The LOVE Series
by RedNightBird
Summary: The AU series that asks if Mick hadn't followed his victim as closely as the TV show? What if his victim never mentally recovered, if she was effected differently by event and her Mother didn't have the resources?
1. Chapter 1 LOVE MISPLACED

What if:  
_Mick hadn't followed his victim as closely as shown in the TV show?_

_What if his victim never mentally recovered, if she was effected differently by event and her Mother didn't have the resources or the understanding to repair her daughter?_

_What if Mick manifested mixed feelings for this child and held some guilt for NOT following her the rest of her life? What if his solitude manifested the sweet child grown in love with him?_

_What if there ARE several different people out there for you? Looks...names...they can all change and we could still be very much in love with a number of people especially if we didn't know who we may meet tomorrow..._

_The Beth that Mick rescued has grown up as "Caroline", a name her mother allowed her to choose when they fled their old lives to get a clean start._

Just looking to another plane of existence. In a world with a few Beth Turners...Beth Turner the victim fled from the kidnapper AND the guardian angel. Beth Turner the stranger is the opportunity Mick doesn't know he is seeking.

_Yes the child that grew from the kidnapping adopted the name Caroline..._  
_Did she hear Mick say Coraline and in childlike wonder like the name? Who knows? _  
_Perhaps the strong woman in white fascinated her more than the lonely single mother she had. Maybe the child didn't want to have the man take her back to her little home...perhaps the thought of a grand room and having a Daddy thrilled her._

**This is possibly the most convoluted story I have written and I invite any other questions or discussion about it...you can even send in the psychologist!**

Glad to get this story out of my mind and into the world..

This is an exercise to see how far I can stretch my muse... Thank-you for being my personal trainers!  
Rusty

* * *

The AU SERIES…..LOVE

Thank-you for reading and leaving comments!

I do not own the known Characters of ML.

**Chapter 1-LOVE MISPLACED**

**Mick's POV:**

When I was a teenager I remember Sadie Hawkins Day. Those of us with no steady girl would be a sitting duck at the H.S. Dance after the basketball game. Depending on the hubbub, we'd know which girl had our name on their lips. I just prayed it wasn't Gretchen with the older brother who wrestled for State. I never wanted to parlay my basketball skills against his take-down skills. It's something I think about every Leap Year since 1939.

I didn't associate this day with anything metaphysical until today. Friday's I generally finish my in-office work, sorting, billing and wrapping up the week. I had the 1980's file drawer open to scan the remainder of my archaic files. Josef kept after me, telling me I was an analog man in a digital world. I worked my way to 1982 and the Turner file was empty save for the single sheet with the bare facts.

There was the 1 page with a copy of the LA Police Report. Not much there...where were the photos I had accumulated at a 50 yard distance from Beth?

I figured Beth had taken the photos to scan or regard more closely, Ill mention it to her tonight. Initially she had been a bit shocked, then she saw the sequence of her life's events and how I was always within a "vampire jump".

I thought my cover had been blown at the fountain that night last fall. I seemed to be familiar, and I was glad she didn't recognize me. Neither of us would have been ready for that. We had come to terms on many things in 2008, so many things that stand between Vamp and human happiness. With that, I wanted to hear her voice... I hit her number and waited for the phone to dial. "The number you have reached is not in service at this time". Ok, let's try the next number, Buzzwire. Her number rang to the main board, so I followed the directory and requested Beth Turner. No Beth Turner...no Beth at Buzzwire.

So finally I dialed the apartment number. "Beth Turner" a dry voice answered.

"Hey" I was hoping to soften the edge on her late afternoon string of disasters...phone service down, job gone...(?)

"Who is this?" She curtly asked.

"Babe, This is Mick" She plays a good game...

"You must have the wrong number" then click...dead line

Well, that went well...I sat back and drew my hand over my face...let's do this again.

"Beth Turner" same tone.

"Beth, this is Mick - don't hang up on me, please!" I begged.

"Mick Jackson, class of 99?" she was curious now.

Class of 99? Ah... no... "Not exactly" I eased into the conversation.

"I'm sorry, who were you calling?" she asked.

"Beth Turner, web journalist" I replied.

"Well, that was a long time ago" by the tone of her voice she was waxing almost nostalgic at the title.

"Really?" I played along.

"That was in college, excuse me, do I know you?" she softened as we talked.

"I thought you did" Realizing this was worse than the smack in the head I took after feeling up Gretchen in Senior Year.

"Since this is the most pleasant wrong number I've had I won't hang up on you again, I'll say good-bye first" I could hear almost a giggle.

"Beth, wait, I'm Mick St. John, a private investigator" (Vampire, all around swell guy and guardian angel I wanted to add).

"Is someone looking for me?" She was stilling smiling, I could tell.

"You could say that", I eased a bit, juggling my thoughts to keep her on the line.

"What would anyone want with a Kindegarten Teacher?" she demured.

My dead heart sank. One hand worked the keyboard to check the date..."Miss Turner, would you mind if I asked you a question about your childhood? I want to make sure I am speaking with the right Beth Turner".

"If it's no too personal" the lightness left her voice.

"Were you kidnapped in 1982?" and I knew as soon as my words left my lips she cringed, as I did. What if she had lost her job, her phone service and she had gone into some fugue, what if this pushed her over the edge?

"Kidnapped, Oh no, my God, what a horrible thought, what was your name again?"

"Mick, Mick St John" I swallowed hard.

"Mr. St. John, my name is fairly common, I'm sorry I can't help you, good luck with your search."

I jumped to keep her on the line, so I repeated her address and she confirmed although the address I had was hers, she was not the kidnapped child all grown up. I wanted to stretch the call out, just to hear her voice. Where was my Beth?

The call ended without her divulging more about herself or her recognizing me. I googled Beth as I knew her and found just threads of the girl I knew and adored.

I was losing my mind and I wasn't about to share that with anyone. I did position myself in the darkness near the apartment by the date on the calendar Josh was dead and buried, unless I had slipped into an alternate universe. No auto traffic to speak of, no visitors to apartment #5, all night it was somber. I watched the night melt into a morning as the building came to life, residents leaving to start the day.

I watched Beth Turner, Teacher, leave her building with a brightly patterned tote and matching lunchbag. She climbed into a light blue Prius and I followed her to a small private school near her apartment. Since she didn't know me I figured I'd walk in and inquire about the school, hoping to steal a glance at the teacher. I was walked through the impressive school while they asked me questions about my incorrigble child, Elliott. I stood, unhearing while we watched the class progress through their morning routine. Smiling lips, apple cheeks, sensible ballet flats and a Laura Ashley jumper with a dazzling white blouse underneath. Her Blond hair pulled back with a clip, hands finding a tissue for a runny nose or a sticker for correct answers.

There she was, living the normal life she deserved. I honed in on the photo on her desk, an extended family portrait from her college graduation. The tassles and honor cords stopped in mid air by the camera shutter. My blond angel beaming as she held up diploma portfolio.

My psyche was dissolving as I was trying to understand the situation. I politely thanked them for the info and excused myself, citing the need to consult with my "wife". The ride was lonely and harsh and the sub-zero oblivion looked good. Would all "snap back" by sundown?

My non-dreams deterred me from the dead calm of my icy refuge. Flashes, images on loops ran non-stop. Coraline with the child, our fight, my staking her, flinging the lantern, flames crawling across the floor, licking at my ex-wife while she lay with a stake in her chest. The most painful image, my fleeing with barely an armful of a tow-headed prescooler, her lucid round blue eyes focused on the burning building as the Benz lumbered away from the scene of my crimes of murder and arson. I killed for that child. Where is the child now? If the child wasn't Beth Turner now, who was that child?

**Part 2**

Mick's POV:

The evening took me by surprise. I had not rested and I rose fitfull and anxious. Neither a cold shower or double shot od A+ restored me to who I wanted to be. Beth's Cell # was still not in service. I was still in a Bethless limbo.

I resumed my position outside Beth's apartment building listening for pieces of why and how. I haunted the web for paranormal oddities, endangered and missing children from 1982. The LAPD report was useless, regurgitating what I already had. I researched the address and found the house changed names within the year, Nancy Turner evaporated.

I had slipped Logan a few hundred in cash and he showed me the dead ends of Nancy and Beth's existence. Social Security numbers dormant, no credit activity for Nancy...I remembered Nancy's plaintive blue eyes, just like Beth's. She was a Waitress at an all-night place. Would it still be there? I hadn't thought about it all these years. I slipped the key in the ignition and left the parking lot for the restaurant.

I parked around back under a floodlight, a brute of a guy leaned on a pushbroom at the back door. My deliberate breath told me he was one of the Tribe. He nodded to me as he sucked the end of a small cigar. I nodded back and extended my hand. We were silent as we shook hands and then he nodded again with a grunt. "You out looking for a meal? We don't serve your kind here".

"Don't you mean our kind?" I smiled, returning my hands to my sides, in plain sight.

"Right, yeah, right. What are you looking for?" smoke escaping his leathered lips.

"Nancy Turner, worked here in the 80's. She was single, had a daughter, both have blue eyes, Nancy's hair a little dirty blond, her daughter would have been about 4, bright blond hair. Were you here then?" the words tumbled out of my mouth, pinning my hopes on this old vamp.

"I was here, you got to understand...lots of single Moms work the tables here. Some for a night a few for years. Ya' got to be more specific to the year..." He leaned on the broom for artistic expression, not support.

"1982 or earlier, she disappeared the end of 1982. Her daughter had been kidnapped, I found the child. I have to find them now, can you help me?" I looked like a goof, begging a stranger in an alley to help me find Beth.

"That was strange...I do remember the child, a little thing, big blue eyes, liked to sit with her chocolate milk and color on the placemats real quiet like" He nodded as if he could see her in the back booth. We had entered the back of the quiet restaurant, surveying the view of just a few customers stiring sugar into heavy china mugs of coffee. He pointed to the back booth, still upholstered with the glitter blue vinyl with the formica table worn from plates sliding to the guests. "Nancy was upset, the child wasn't gettin' back to sleep, it was upsetting their home, bad nightmares." Rollo nodded as he recounted the days.

"One day she was gone, called that she was leaving, gave me an address to forward her last check and never saw her again" he folded his thoroughly muscled arms over his barrel chest. "I suppose you are gonna want me to look up that address, aren't you?" he looked down at me, even though I stood at 6'2".

"I'd really appreciate it, may I help you? We'll be quick..you know we can be quick" I pushed a bit.

**Part 3**

Mick's POV:

The house had new shutters, the shrubs had grown up past the window sill and a yellow bug bulb glowed for all it's 60 watt's worth. The house looked closed for the night. I sat across the street, knowing it it was where they fled to and they had fled again. I wondered where they had run.

I had given Logan a "smoke and mirrors" job when I asked him to run the requested data. No one could know what I was doing; delusional vampires have very little credibility, especially when they are P.I.'s. Had I ever really known Beth?

Another night of digging just fatigued me, no revelations, not so much as a snail trail to follow. Each day at 4 pm I rose early to call BuzzWire. By the 3rd day the unlucky guy answering the line just chuckled, "Look, buddy, every woman wants to be an onscreen personality. This girl gave you a bad number. Go back to the bar and see if she's there" and he hung up...It wasn't like that. Then at twilight I dialed the cell phone, still not in service.

Finally I thought of facial recognition programs, if Logan could locate Nancy Turner from her 1982 license we could run the subsequent years to see if she changed ID or did evaporate.

August 1982 Nancy's face smiled from her license. By January 5, 1983 her image turned up as Louise Bishop. She moved 40 miles in another direction, cut and dyed her hair to match her daughter's. With the address in hand I headed out, too happy for words, I could have run the 50 miles.

On a dusty county road sat a white stucco cottage stained with 20+ years of dampness, a carport protected a late model brown Ford Fairlane. Mrs. Turner had a Blue Ford in the drive the night I brought Beth home. I sat in my car while Logan confirmed the auto was registered to Louise T Bishop. My throat tightened.

If Nancy Turner is Louise Bishop, who is Beth Turner?

I almost chewed my fingers debating how to knock on the door. I'd like to think the Mick St John who could talk the panties off an USO Donut Dolly or the perpetually cool vampire inside me could walk right up and enthrall her to spill the story. I simply did not know how to face the woman who ran after I returned her kidnapped daughter to her...so I prepared to lie.

It was a decent hour after sunset, I pulled on my black baseball cap and duster and headed for the blue wooden door and knocked, standing back for her to peer at me thru the security peephole.

I sensed a heartbeat spike behind the door and the darkness of a face against the viewfinder. Did she jump at seeing a ghost? The door opened on a chain and she peered at me. It was Nancy/Louise greyed and worn past her 50 years.

"What do you want?" she was cowed.

I held up my credentials, "are you Louise Bishop? My name is Mick St. John, P.I."

"Yes, I am, what did you want?" quietly calmer.

I wanted to put a boot thru the front door and run from room to room to find my Beth, only I took two unnecessary deep breathes and answered her. "Would you have a few minutes Mrs Bishop? I'd be happy to sit on the porch here if it makes you more comfortable". She slid off the chain and came out with a sweater over her shoulders, eyes bearing down on me not wanting to mention recognizing me.

"What did you want Mr.? She played with the grosgrain in the placket of the sweater, watching an ant carry a crumb across the porch cement.

"I believe you engaged my, " I was stumbling "er...the services of my father in 1982 for your daughter's kidnapping".

She nodded, "Yes, why did you father send you? I guess it never goes away" and her lips drew up in a pucker as she bit her lip on the inside.

I just went and said it..."I was looking for Beth".

She gave a grim grin and looked me in the eye with a bit of venom, "What has she done now?" as she shook her head.

"Gamma?" a little voice called from the window behind us. I turned to see a little boy of 3 or 4 in Disney pajamas patty caking the glass pane. Blond floss fell in his robin's egg blue eyes and a grin made two dimples in his cheeks. He danced from foot to foot as he patted the glass and repeated "Gamma".

"Just a minute, buster...Gamma's got company...hold your horses" She turned to me to hear some bad news as she rose from the "vintage" metal porch chair.

"No, it's not that, I, au... "there I was stumbling again anticipating what Beth could have done. I did some quick math in my head. The Beth I rescued was an only child, so if this child called Louise "Gamma" This was Beth's son.

**Part 4**

Mick's POV:

Louise excused herself to return to her grandson inside. I heard her get his cup and blanket and asked him to sit on the sofa where he could watch us through the window, "You lay there nice and Gamma with rock you when I am done talking to this man, OK?". He accepted the blanket as he slurped the cup and got comfortable in the corner of the small sectional.

"OK, Ok, I will wait...good." He giggled enunciating the "wait ...good".

She stuck her head out the door, "Mr. St John, would like to come inside?" and I accepted, just to see the sanctuary they had clung to all these years. Hopefully there would be photos on the walls.

The nod to modern life was a flat screen TV on an "Ikea" style low slung table. The rest of the home was small in scope and close by the nature of the older furniture hugging all the walls. The scent of lonely meals hung from the ceiling fan in the dining area. The colors of the basic 8 crayolas covered papers taped to small child's easel, too young to draw, he made Jackson Pollack type efforts to cover the entire page.

Mick sat across from Louise as she gazed at the window, still not comfortable enough to look straight at me. Then out of the blue...

"How is your father, Mick Sr.?"

I was expecting that..."He passed away a while back".I lied. How would she receive the news that the person who rescued her daughter from a Vamp was also a Vamp and by the way they had formerly been married?

"So, is Beth having problems?" trying to steer the conversation back to my original agenda, finding Beth.

"She had horrible nightmares for a few months, then I noticed she'd zone out. She began having problems with sleeping and old fears returning. She was a behavior problem once she was in public school, so I had to ask for help to put her in a program for children with issues" She sat nodding her head as she spoke to no one in particular.

"Did she ever snap out of it?" I found myself picking at imaginary lint on my dark trousers.

"She got through the private school and graduated, just barely. It was all I could do to keep her in school. She went to junior college for 1 semester and said it was boring; there was nothing she wanted to do from the choices at the local CC. Then she spent more and more time with a young man, I didn't like him and I figured if I said a thing it would drive her right to him. I kept my mouth shut and he still became her savior."

Who was she talking about? What kind of savior leaves you with a child? "So does Beth live here with you?" I asked...

"She hasn't been Beth since the incident. When we ran I let her pick her name, figured she'd remember it better if she chose. She goes by Caroline now".

"So, does Caroline live here with you?" I asked, as if to play "Mother, May I".

"Off and on. She had some problems after Micah was born. She didn't like the responsibility and I tried to get her to let a family adopt him. She'd have no part of it and now Micah spends more time with me that his Mom." she was poised with that ache all over her face.

We talked about her habits, where she hung out when she ran out to the car that picked her up 3 or 4 nights a week. She worked at the local newspaper production facility, operating an inserting machine 4 days a week until the bell signaled the end of the shift. Didn't date regularly, but like to dress for a date when she left the house. Louise pegged all their misfortune on the night she disappeared, if only she hadn't been traumatized, life would have been different for the both of them

I made mental notes of the places Caroline frequented, when she worked. Louise was concerned for her safety, being out late, hanging in clubs. I watched Micah as he twisted a lock of hair and soothed himself to sleep while we talked. It was almost 10:30 when I excused myself, leaving a business card and asking Louise to call if she got concerned about anything. She walked to the door with me and then out to the porch, as I returned to my car she recognized the Benz.

"Oh you have your Father's car...Isn't that wonderful? You know to have a piece of him?" and she waved and disappeared into the house.

I started the engine and pulled around the corner and into a parking lot. My eyes opened up and tears ran down my cheeks. Salty, rugged tears flowed for a few minutes. The radio played as I sat shaking with my head in my hands.

A song began and I realized it was one of the first songs I had heard in this car back in 1965 when I drove it off the lot...The Zombies, She's Not There. I remembered how happy I was that Coraline wasn't there...how I thought the song was about our situation then...

I remembered singing along as I drove to Josef's to show him my new "baby", the first new car I had even bought.

_**Well no one told me about her, the way she lied**_

_**Well no one told me about her, how many people cried**_

_**But it's too late to say you're sorry**_

_**How would I know, why should I care**_

_**Please don't bother tryin' to find her**_

_**She's not there**_

I cleared my eyes and gathered my thoughts, pulling the car back onto the road, making plans for my night, where I've watch her, just to get a glimpse of her, was she light or dark haired, styled long or short? I'd just hang back; I didn't want to frighten her...

_**Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked**_

_**The way she'd act and the colour of her hair**_

_**Her voice was soft and cool**_

_**Her eyes were clear and bright**_

_**But she's not there**_

So now, some 23 years later I'm "singing" the same song in the same car for a different woman.

_**"Well no one told me about her, what could I do**_

_**Well no one told me about her, though they all knew**_

_**But it's too late to say you're sorry**_

_**How would I know, why should I care**_

_**Please don't bother tryin' to find her**_

_**She's not there"**_

I caught a glimpse of Caroline, and that really stuck in my craw...how did she chose that name? To a little child, to Beth did "Coraline" sound like Caroline?

She frequented a bar near the newspaper, wedged between the courthouse and the newspaper it was called "The Sidebar", it had lost some of it's luster and it satisfied all the requirements of the working person now, dim lighting, naugahyde booths that withstood spills of drinks and other fluids, a digital music system that beat a second rate band all to hell.

She liked the attention she got from her crew of post work revelers. Shaggy bleached hair fell from the clip as she pulled herself on the stool, "The usual" and there was an irish whiskey with a water back. I listened for that Buzzwire voice... it wasn't the same.

_**Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked**_

_**The way she'd act and the colour of her hair**_

_**Her voice was soft and cool**_

_**Her eyes were clear and bright, But she's not there**_

I left her that night, the crowd was thin and I stood out, over dressed and too brooding to fit in. I relinquished myself to my freezer and let the world spin. When I rose it was late, about 10pm already...the exhaustion of my situation was beginning to show, I avoided Josef, Simone, even Logan. Guillermo noticed it and suggested a "buffet" of blood types to brighten my spirits...If he only knew why I wasn't myself.

At the end of the week I got a call from Louise, Caroline had mentioned she thought she was being followed from the pancake house around 4:30 one morning. Louise thought it was me and since it wasn't I was disturbed. I set out with a general idea of where she was headed, waiting to see if this specter would show himself again.

The nights spent in my undead rest were wearing me out, I sat in the car without the concentration skills I usually have. I fidgeted, zoned out and even swore that I had actually dozed off once. I shook alert when the door opened and the music's volume shot of about 300 percent. Something wasn't right, whether it was the dumpster from the side alley masking it or my fatigue that I had not caught the odor until it was happening. Caroline walked from the bar, alone, dialing her phone and digging for car keys. She never saw the attacker dart from the alley. He menaced her like a punk does, made threats and was so very uncool his vamp card was going to get punched. Tonight.

Her scrappy nature couldn't hold this young jackass of a vamp and by the time I made it to them he and I were in full tilt mode, I didn't want to kill him in front of humans, so I grasped him in a neck hold and spoke subsonically in my best menacing voice. "leave the girl alone...go now or die". We met eyes and he let out a shiver as a crowd from the bar gathered. I released him and he spun on his heels and disappeared. I gathered up Caroline and attempted to dust her off and see her home.

_**But it's too late to say you're sorry**_

_**How would I know, why should I care**_

_**Please don't bother tryin' to find her, She's not there**_

"I'm OK, I'm OK..please enough, don't hover over me" She fussed in annoyed voice as all her friends from the inside crowded around us.

She didn't want to appear "rescued".

"I mean I know I probably owe you my life right now, but ahh...you don't need to hang quite so close." a little too briskly for someone who has just faced death at the hands of a vampire.

She didn't even appear to have increased her heart rate much, in fact the more I stepped back from her the happier she was...

Someone from the crowd had called 911 and a squad car flipped its lights on illuminating the alley, annoying my eyes. We answered the officer's questions and I had to create a few answers thinking on my feet.

This was not the Beth I loved, not even a quarter of her. Of course one of the journalists from her paper snapped a photo of the two of us and I'll have to thank them for that. It ended up on a syndicated news wire and I was grateful my name never made it painful to be famous. Whatever idea I had about this girl, this grown young woman had to be vanquished...she was not my Beth. I had to get over this...

_**Well let me tell you 'bout the way she looked**_

_**The way she'd act and the colour of her hair**_

_**Her voice was soft and cool**_

_**Her eyes were clear and bright**_

_**But she's not there**_

I never heard from Caroline again...not even a solid "Thank-you". Two days later I was mindlessly cruising the internet at home when my phone rang.

"Hello, is this Mick St John, PI?" I wasn't in the mood to work yet so I sat there wishing they didn't need me, even though the voice was delightful...

"Yes, it is and who is this?"

"I saw a photo of you and a girl you rescued, well, if I'm right I think you rescued her. We haven't formally met" she had the voice of an angel.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"Well now, you finally get to ask me that...Mr. St John, this is Beth Turner.

And that was how this guardian angel met his guardian angel...

tbc...in _**Love Denied**_


	2. Chapter 2 LOVE DENIED

Summary:

_In this sequel to LOVE MISPLACED, Mick solves the puzzle about the child he rescued. Now the road he chooses will mean the world to him._

_Author's Chapter Notes:_

_Mick is in transition, the past he imagined is just that, a figment of his imagination. He has no romance with the young woman he rescued as a child. He is finding himself thru extending himself in the vamp and the human world._

**LOVE DENIED**

6:38pm

Mick's POV:

"I was your wrong number, wasn't I?" I guess she saw the news blurb and was curious….

"Yes, you were. And I have to say that it was pretty exciting seeing your face on the news. One day I'm talking to you by accident and then I get to tell my girlfriends that "we've met".

Where was this going? Come on_…..don't yank my chain._

"So, Miss Turner…did you need a private investigator?" I was jovial, trying to remember how you talk to human women when it wasn't business and you were not hitting on them.

"Well, um…..not exactly, but kind of. The 6th graders are having people in to talk about the jobs they do and we had a lot of lawyers and doctors and even an electrician. We didn't have anyone to represent law enforcement so I wondered if you might be available for about an hour next week. I know this is out of the blue and if you don't want to I understand that too." Her tone of voice had been upbeat then as she talked I could hear the guilt that was giving me a way out of the invitation.

"When did the kids need me?" what the hell….what's an hour… in the life span of a vampire?

(The background music…. Pink Floyd "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" Syd Barrett Tribute found on You Tube)

Feelings can be so strong that you can't flip a switch. Mourning…that is where I am. I guess I could ask Josef if there is a Vamp shrink I can see….then he'd want the whole dirty story…..can't unload this on him. A 22 year fascination over a woman…..a fascination so warped it eclipses reality.

Knowing reality now I want to drop my head and run to another place in my world. Just when I wanted to mire myself in angst…the phone rings. Again.

"Hello my lost brother…where have you been lately?" Josef must have been concerned…the flavor of sarcasm or snark was notably absent.

"Chasing my tail…what's happening in your world, Josef?"

"There is other tail, you know? Anyway...Poker night…you're in, right? We have some fledglings that think they are going to kick my ass because they're from Vegas" The leer in his voice was palpable. The time was right for me to watch the cues of the other vamps…assimilate. Be the vampire. There was no reason to be anything else.

The usual, if only everyone had it so fine. The pendent light low over the poker table, the PINK FLOYD playing low in the background, chaises with languid freshies smiling softly as the 6 of us mill around and shake off the outside, I needed this. It's all I can do to concentrate and watch my hand; I play my hand and think about the metaphor here. I am left "playing the hand dealt", what irony this is. Snap out of it, St John I shake my head and drop my hand, "I'm out" and I pull back from the table for a drink. I go for the scotch when a subtle titian headed freshies drops her head and looks up to me, offering a pale wrist….veins alive. Could it be A+?

"Mick, I was hoping you'd be here tonight" she whispered, wrist offered closer to me. I take her hand and turn it over, stroking the top of her hand to her fingertips.

"Melanie, where have I been…to miss you would be a….mistake" OK, St. John…this is what you do. It's not sex, it's not making out, and it's eating.

She vacates the soft leather chair and offers it to me. I feel her human warmth, scent her flavors, and anticipate the bite, the tastes, and the rush. She steps toward me, inching up her skirt to face and straddle my thighs. She places her hands in mine and I warm her up for the bite. The smooth auburn hair falls over her breasts and I grab the two sides of the trailing hair to bring her into my space. Melanie kisses my forehead and her breasts rise and fall before me. More scents of this simply ravishing woman assault me and I am ready, feeling my fangs descend to their full length she feels it too and falls into me. Her thick hair covers my oral assault as I break the skin and taste the first mouthful. Her whole body is here for my appreciation and the rush stiffens me. Holding her carefully, I slide more forward to press myself against her open legs, her arms reach around me and we are the only people in the room. Liquid silk pours down my throat and I warm to it, warm to her. I listen for her moans and sighs as I begin to pull out of her white throat, closing the small holes with a lick and a long kiss. She's in that vampire induced rapture and breathing long slow satisfied breaths, her body is covered with a fine sheen of perspiration as if we have had a session in bed. I lift her off me and lay her gently at one of the sofas to the side, "sleep angel…." I whisper as I turn to the game at hand and the next hand...

"Well, Mick, aren't you in fine form tonight?" Josef laughed as I returned to my chair, scotch in hand, recovering from being noticeably aroused.

"If I did not accept the hospitality of the house it would be an insult, wouldn't it?" throw that back at you, Josef…..

"OK, who wants to lose big next?" Josef changes the subject as he deals the next hand. All in all I was having a good time; I was out of my loft, with guys talking sports, food, drink and cars. By the end of evening I'm up a couple hundred dollars, I've had an evening not thinking about Coraline or Beth Turner or Caroline Bishop.

I detest when Josef is right…the live blood was a rush and I felt like floating all the way home, the night air was crisp and although I could see the sun coming up I felt invincible. It felt truly good to be me.

My day in school began about 1pm, I donned my black baseball cap and sunglasses and headed for the address Miss Turner had given me, and I showed up on time and followed the other speakers into the classroom area. I could tell they were moms and dads of the students; here I was the odd vampire out. Miss Turner approached me with a wide grin and a handshake, "I am so happy to be face to face with you. Thank-you for your time" she motioned to a series of chairs along the back of the classroom; I sought the darker side of the room and was conscious that I left my cap and sunglasses on. In a room full of humans I really was quite pale.

I had brought a couple pieces of surveillance equipment as well as my collapsible baton and credentials. I watched as the lawyer drew yawns and the doctor got questions like "what's the grossest thing you do?" The electrician fascinated them with a safety demonstration. Then Miss Turner stepped up to introduce me, "Class, our next speaker is a Mr. Mick St. John, a private investigator and he'll be talking about his business. You might have seen him in the last week where he averted an early morning attack on a woman, he saved her life. He'll be talking to us about his career" and she welcomed me up to the front of the class.

The boys had that look; you know the one where they want to see your car and ask you sports questions to validate their masculinity. The girls melted like butter, eyes wide and smiling in the unknowing jejune way. A few girls with budding breasts and lip gloss smiled like a 21 century Lolitas at me. I tried not to look at them; their blood would have been incredible.

After a description of the beginnings of private investigation the boys were ready to launch the awkward nasty questions, like how many bodies I've found (too many to list), have I shot any one? (Wanna know how many I killed with my bare hands?), Have you ever been shot? (I should have brought the mason jar of bullets). The entire session went too well, with our having to close the floor on questions for the next parent to talk about being in Waste Management. I wanted to give that guy all the time he deserved.

I moved to the back of the class and was ready to slide out when a small boy brought me a note, I opened it up:

_Dear Mr. St. John:_

_Thank-you for coming today, may I make it up to you with dinner or drinks?"_

_Beth Turner_

This is the fork in the road.

Say "No" and walk away into eternity. The vision of who I think Beth Turner should be goes on as a normal human woman seeking human company in her natural lifetime.

Say "Yes" and it's a Pandora's Box of "what if's". How far do I hide my nature? When does she suspect there is another dimension to my existence?

**Love Denied, Part 2**

Mick's POV:

With time comes control. The younger the vampire the less resistance to light, fire and silver. Why else would I think my stake and lantern fire would have killed Coraline years ago?

Somewhere in 30 years of being a vamp I thought I had a handle on domination. My cushy lifestyle and lack of initial mentoring only reinforced my ego driven self-perception. I'm top of the food chain over humans yet fair to middlin' with my kind.

On a day to day basis control is paramount over domination. Moving between the human and vamp world I must control any blood lust. My losing control threatens the entire tribe; several hundred vamps rely on each other for this confidentiality.

All those years, imagining the guardianship I held over that child I fooled myself that bottled blood would be more humanitarian. Bottled blood lied to me...I lost practice of the control a vamp needs to move between worlds.

Without holding that warm flesh in my arms, without hearing the heart/lung rush and feeling the living blood course down my throat I lost sight of my power and what it takes to control that power. I drank bottled blood for satiation with no finesse. Denying myself feeding fresh I left myself with the control of an adolescent boy at a nudie show. Feeding from Melanie gave me back the confidence I need to walk between worlds...to say yes to drinks with Miss Turner.

It's like a human who fails to understand the power of their words, how curt words damage hearts or how secrets and lies break relationships.

I looked up to the smiling blond and and nodded my head and left the classroom through the back door. She left through the front door and caught me in the hallway.

"I didn't put you on the spot, did I?" She crossed her arms over her chest and made a little "egads" face at me.

"Naw, no, not at all" I had to grin at that...because I was on the spot. "When did you want to get together for drinks?" I asked.

"How's Friday evening?" her eyebrows rose to accentuate the question as she leaned closer, I caught a whiff of freesia and stood back, looking around the hallway.

"Around 7 or so?" She nodded and she picked a place near her neighborhood, I tipped my cap and left. I felt her eyes on my the entire walk out of the school.

Knowing that I was due to feed I headed to Josef's, not that I felt like a mooch, just that I knew he had the "groceries" and it would take a while for me to organize a stable for myself. This is ironic; Mick St John is "becoming" a true vampire to better associate with humans.

Josef was putting on the length of green carpet when I arrived, although I wanted someone as luscious a Melanie...I didn't want to get into any habits. "Hey, old man, who's on the buffet today?" I slapped his back as he was about to take a stroke.

"Not only do you spoil the putt, you come to freeload!" Josef grinned as he dropped the putter and walked toward me, arms outstretched. I was thinking he was coming to strangle me when he through his arms around my shoulders and got in my face.

"I love you too, Josef, please, don't slip me the tongue" I pushed him back to arm's length. He grasped at my face and held our gaze.

"I don't know what possessed you to feed here the other night...brother, am I seeing a conversion? Were you just playing with me?" His gold eyes were unflinching as I broke his hold and sat down.

"No, an epiphany, you are seeing my realization that I do need to feed fresh, need to get used to who and what I am." again I'm picking at imaginary lint and not seeking deeper conversation on the subject." I just don't want to feed from the same group. I don't want to get some girl's hopes up, I do not want a relationship, just dinner."

"Mick, my boy, you're in the right place. Mel is off today and I have a couple of sunbathers who's A+ should be sweet and warm" Josef looked at his watch and slid off his necktie and opened his top two buttons, "let's walk" he said as we left his office.

Her skin was still warm and silky from the sun. Her brunette hair was tied into a mass of ringlets and her bathing suit appeared sprayed on. I gave Josef the eye and the "face".

"Jackie, did you want to change, dear? Why don't you shower and dress and come back?" Josef knew I didn't want a slap and tickle, just a meal.

When she returned with one of the sister Freshies Josef and I were in two different worlds. Josef availed himself of each of her charms, without compunction he began with a nip from the wrist and had her on her back in the chaise as he stroked one breast and bit at the other.

I led Jackie to the other end of the room and read her like today's paper. She was all business and we were new to each other. She sat on my lap as a child would sit for Santa, wrap skirt demurely covering her long legs, peasant shirt clinging her curves leaving her neck open to me. The small talk was forgotten as her scent intoxicated me, oriental musk was confusing me. Did I want to eat or do something else? If I didn't start to eat I'd be here longer doing more...

Her tan flesh was crying to be stroked as I pulled her close, her coarse and shiny brunette hair tickled me as we got used to each other, moving in different positions to see how the two of us fit best. I laid her back on the chaise leaning over her, her legs stretched down the chaise parallel with mine. I took her face in my hand and tipped her face away from me, viewing the throbbing blue trail on her throat. I sensed her calm and joyous anticipation as she sighed and smiled. Her heart was building a melody as my tongue lazed in a circle and when I tasted her desire for me, fangs lengthened and sought home. I pulled her close, holding a generous breast in one hand while I held her neck to me.

Still new at this, I listened carefully to her strong heartbeat and when I tasted the surrender and sensed a slowing I withdrew and licked at the two wounds, so small, hidden underneath her brown waves. I smoothed her hair and clothes out as I laid her back with a cashmere throw that she grasped in her half sleep with a smile on her face. As I stood up I felt the throb behind my fly and smoothed my trousers down, shaking the rush of the blood through my body.

I've thrown away the rocky rthym of angst and picked up where I should have when Coraline gave me my "wedding gift". She said she was giving me a gift, forever.

I guess the cliché is right...it's not the gift, nor the giver, it's the thought that counts.

**Part 3**

Mick's POV:

I step a bit lighter, I think more clearly….the thin veil tempering my vision for the past 2 decades torn away by two generous women, Melanie and Jackie.

Just today as I sat behind a copse of trees, watching my subject as he made dinner reservations with an associate from a competing firm, I realized the acuity I've gained within the two feedings. Today's job, just a case of industrial espionage, I wrapped up within the hour….I just hate billing them for 1 hour, they'd wonder how I could come up with so much in such a short time. The company doesn't know what my edge is, so I guess I'll just gather a bit more info….it's an overcast day and the view of the subject and the prospective dinner guest isn't too shabby.

Just when I look up again I see the lovely Miss Turner walk into the salon. I multi task as I watch her take a seat. I watch her hands as they move around her head, holding up pieces of her blond mane, motioning to her forehead and nodding.

I document the rueful activities of Mr. Sullivan and how he's about to sell out to the charms of Ms. Hicks with his competitors and decide to wrap up the surveillance. I've got a metamorphosis to view.

Within the hour the chair spins Miss Turner around and she steps out the door. The golden hair to the middle of her back has been chopped and styled to a shoulder length bob, thick around her neck, still guarding her pale throat. It moves with her, in opposition to her hips as she walks to the car. I'll have to pretend it's a surprise when I see her tonight. Was our date the impetus for the change?

I drive home and log the evidence to my client, write up the invoice and "clock" out for the week.

It's been too long since I've had date night. Actually my last date was around the time of those BURMA SHAVE signs along the road. Those were the days when I bathed and shaved, thinking that if I wanted to smooch I didn't want to scratch my date with a 5 o'clock shadow. What do I do about fangs?

_**USE THIS CREAM**_

_**A DAY**_

_**OR TWO**_

_**THEN DON'T CALL HER —**_

_**SHE'LL CALL YOU**_

_**BURMA SHAVE**_

Then I'd polish my dress shoes, pull off the pieces of toilet paper where I cut myself shaving and slap on a little Clubman Bay Rum. Slick back my hair with my black pocket comb and load the wallet with a condom or two if I was lucky.

Yeah, date night.

Being casual, not wanting to try too hard, I pull out one of the Henleys I consider my "lucky Henley". I've worn it without getting staked or shot. In my line of work it is indeed my "lucky shirt". Not that I'm presumptuous, but I did stock the fridge so it looked bachelor level and not vamp occupied. Through the door you can see a little OJ, fresh strawberries, a dozen eggs and some coffee creamer. I'm thick but not stupid.

Thank god she's out of the jumper thing she wore to work, she doesn't see me and I'm watching her enjoy her new hairdo. It moves with her conversation to the bartender and I can tell she likes the way the ends touch her shoulders. Straight legged jeans and black jacket, Steve Madden boots, standing there waiting for me.

I cut through the crowd just as she's about to pay for her drink and throw down a credit card nodding to the barkeep, "double single malt up, nicest you have". And he nods back delivering a generous pour into the glass.

"Good evening, Miss Turner" I catch her hand between my hands, we lock eyes and she smiles, eyes blinking at the feeling of my cold flesh. I realize it and drop her hand immediately.

"Hi, Mr. St. John, cold hands, warm heart?" She goes to place her hand at my chest and I step back, hand over my sluggish undead heart. She's not ready for this or at least I'm not.

"I guess so, call me Mick, OK?" as I wrap one hand around my glass and shove the other in my pants pocket. The music carries a few seconds of silence between us and then she starts.

"Well then call me Beth. I do want to thank you for coming in, it's a small school and I knew they needed a headliner like you once I saw the news." She nervously placed her hair behind her ear, then within the sentence finger combed it out.

"So I was the headliner? I always thought a Heart surgeon was a hard act to follow". My new obsession was going to be Conversation 101….how do you talk to someone you thought you knew…when you do not know them at all?

"Maybe to my Mom, she's still lamenting my single status." She flashed her empty left hand.

I go in for "Investigative skills 101". "So does she need a PI to discover why the ring on that hand disappeared?"

"uhum, till about 6 months ago, a college flame. Anthony and I had a difference of opinion and he went east. It's been the best 6 months of my life. I'm an adult, I have a solid job I love, I have a little apartment and new car, my college loans are paid off…jeez I am just spilling my guts to you on the first drink…what mystery will be left if I don't shut up" She laughed fully and smiled with her eyes.

Maybe being a vamp I am drawn to those smile lines….proof that this soul has experienced emotions.

"So, was Anthony a doctor?" I'll bite for more info as I sipped my drink.

"No, broadcast engineer, he's history. Let's talk about you. Are you from around here?" she nodded toward me and I swore she inched to me.

"I'm an orphan" I lied. "You know I have very little baggage" and I thought…..My little baggage has big fangs. "I'm a P.I. and I'm single" didn't mean to trip over that one, but how does a first date sound if he tells you he killed is wife 20 some years ago?

"Wow, it just gets better and better. You rescue maidens, clean up well and you're single!" She tipped back the malbec and drained the wine glass, put it down and had that wide grin like she found the grail.

"What do you do for fun?" I asked, fumbling with my pocket change, trying to warm my hand for an eventual touch.

"I like to ride horses" that was a bad hobby for vampires….they get skittish. Strike 1

"I like to picnic on the beach" Strike 2

"I like concerts; I have two season tickets to the symphony" OK, that's Ball 1.

"And, do go on" I smiled as I passed her glass to the barkeep for a second wine.

"I do a little writing, left over from my days as a reporter, I love old books. Some days I jump in the car and scour used book stores for oddball stuff" Great, Ball 2 I thought. Then she queried, "Even if you are an orphan, tell me about yourself…what you like to do?" she poked a finger at my duster lapel. When she met with my chest I thought her eyes twinkled.

"I like music, play a little guitar, like photography because I use it so much in my work" The rest of the room was awash in color and noise. People were bumping off each other like tribal mating rituals. I had to shield out the pheromones to keep myself flaccid. I wanted to get her out of her to a neutral place; you know no food, no horney throngs, and lots of space between us.

"I like books, I have a big bookcase and a fireplace, some days I just hole up inside and read" I volunteered. She nodded and agreed. There we go, Ball 3.

Just then out of the corner of my eye, Melanie flashed past me and careened off a buff guy in a business suit. He spun her into his arms and she winced at him like "no deal". His response was "hey babe, don't count me out, this could be fate – you bumping into me".

She responded with a light, "Yeah, you could change my life, right?" as she shrugged herself from him. I wanted to avoid a freshie confrontation; even though they are schooled to confidentiality I didn't want Beth to see this vixen in a gold lame top as competition.

I swung around next to Miss Turner under the guise of speaking in a lower volume. There she was next to me, her fragrant hair shining in the bar's dim halogen lights. My move seemed to please her and she held her wine glass for awhile without drinking, as if it were an afterthought.

"Was there somewhere else you'd like to go?" she asked then considered her question, "I mean a movie or I know a little bookstore that has a lot of Victorian editions. We'd have an hour or so to dig through the stacks" Ball 4….we're walking….

Part 4

Mick's POV:

I offered to drive and she produced keys so fast my head spun.

"Why don't we meet there?" she chirped and spun on her heel to her car.

OK, the lady is calling shots tonight, doing all the safety precautions modern women are advised- Meet at a neutral location, drive yourself and watch your drinks. Of course she hasn't been advised to wear a turtleneck to ward off admiring vampires.

The book store is a converted old home was open until 11pm on Fridays. We meandered through rooms of travel, cook books, fiction, self-help and non-fiction until he pulled me back into an addition with books to the high ceiling complete with rolling library ladders. "This is where I squandered by prime teen years" she grinned as if she were showing me the gold of Montezuma.

She took a spin around the room, running her pale fingertips over the spines of the musty books. Her fingers lingered at the horror and mystery volumes.

I stood, hands in pockets and eyes catching the names. "So you enjoy Poe and Stoker?" This may be good, easier to connect.

"I've always loved Frankenstein…I always felt we are all like this assembled monster" she grew wistful and quiet while I grinned and felt my neck for bolts and grinned at her.

She playfully slapped at me "Not like that! I meant we're an amalgam of our life's experiences. Each thing changes us. He wasn't a monster, he wanted companionship, understanding" she clutched the book to her breasts and spoke convincingly. Could she plead my case this well?

So…I need companionship and understanding. I inhaled the mildew mixed with her perfume as we chatted about her childhood books. I didn't want to admit how precious a book was to a depression era child. We looked at the bookplates in the used books and discussed the possible lives of the owners with their ornate Spenserian script and their formal names.

Before we knew it the owner was blinking the lights "You don't have to go home, you just have to leave here" he chimed as he flushed us out. As we vacated the home the air became clearer and her bouquet began to bloom. I walked behind and consumed the sweet smell of the hairstyling products in her new hairdo, the dabs of cologne at her wrists and not behind her ears or knees, the scent of her secretly applied lip gloss.

"Do you want to go for coffee, or is it too early for breakfast?" she asked, standing on the sidewalk as the sign lights flickered off. Did she want to linger?

I paused at the thought of a 24 hour restaurant and shook my head, "You want to eat breakfast at this hour?" still grinning yet not wanting to push eggs around a plate.

"In college, Oh, I loved dancing until they threw us out, then piling into a car and hitting the pancake house for silver dollar pancakes and bacon. Then we'd stumble home and collapse and sleep until 2pm!" just the thought of doing that again excited her. I must have looked tired; she stopped laughing abruptly and asked "I forgot about your job, you probably have to work, don't you?"

It was a perfect out and tonight I took it, preferring to set up another chance to spend some time with my new Beth.

"You sure are the strong and silent type!" She laughed as we agreed to head home. We walked toward our cars and she slowed her lope to walk beside me, one hand on her purse, one hand hanging free at her side, dangerously close to me. Was this my cue to take her hand in my carefully warmed hand?

We stopped and faced each other, I told her "I'd like to see you again" as I pushed a strip of hair away from her mouth. Electricity seemed to crackle between us.

"Do you eat?" she uttered and then flustered lowered he head and laughed…."I mean, do you eat Thai food?" I thought she had me there for a moment.

"Not much, how about a Jazz Club?" I countered.

"I don't know much about Jazz, but it sounds like fun. What's it like?" Her shoulders rose in anticipation of the description.

"Dark, close, they used to be smoky, but they've cleaned them up. How about next Saturday, I pick you up at 9:30, Wear your dancing shoes?" I was rubbing my hands behind my back to warm them, to spare her a cold handshake good night. I had to pinch myself.

This Beth was cautious and forward, unguarded and effusive. I had spent the night catching her delicate and distinctive fragrance…this is a new and different woman, not a damaged girl. Her blue eyes flashed at my offer. We resumed the trek back to the cars and she clicked open the lock and turned back to say good night. I stepped for a possible kiss and our hands met in front of us, fingers intertwined briefly and I lifted her hand to kiss the back of her hand. She stood rock still and let out a little excited quiver. She stepped toward me and gave me a hug, the side of her face to my chest. My hands fell lightly around her shoulders as we enjoyed the moment.

She pulled away and grinned red faced "Good night, Mick, I enjoyed our evening" and she lowered into the car seat and drove off. I waited until the taillights were gone and headed off to an old friend.

Guillermo was poised over a gurney when I knocked, "My man, long time no see". He stepped to wash his hands then finished and leaned with his back against the sink.

"You got a few minutes?" I stood opposite him and folded my arms, sniffed and pinched the bridge of my nose…questions like this are difficult. "I'm thinking of going fresh, so I won't need my usual, just a bit for snacks". He took it rather well, but I was looking for more of my background from him, some pushback to tell me more about myself, the self I had lost.

"You cut that human you used to talk about loose?" he asked with a bit of surprise.

"Well, you could say I'm going a different direction, I think I'll feel better" still hoping for him to reveal a secret I do not know about myself.

"Are you thinking of keeping a couple Freshies on hand? I got friends, you know?", 'G" always the go-to guy.

"Naw, Josef's got me set up" won't he be surprised I thought….

"I forgot you got access to the high priced vein" he smirked as he packed the 2 pints into the backpack and handed it to me. I slipped him the crisp bills and shook his hand good night with no revelations learned.

I swung my car over to the Full Moon Bottle Club, all vamp, all the time. The bartender looks a lot like Clark Gable, oh hell, it is Clark Gable. He goes by Frank now. I threw my keys on the bar and he responded with my bottle of scotch and a glass. "Mick, you son of a bitch, what can I do you out of?" a lock of steel hair fell over his brow, eyes squinting with his smile.

"Tell me what you think of me" I asked as I kicked back the first shot. He flinched and bit hard on the cigar, the pencil thin moustache arched as he grinned.

"Well, Mick, you are no lumberjack". He pulled himself up to his width and grinned

"And you were, so tell me more" I reared in the barstool, my back resting against the wood back.

"Mick, come on, what is this about? You're not a chump; you're a stand up guy. Where is this going?" He poured again for me.

"I need some constructive criticism. Tell me what you think I've done with my last 20 years?" So I can know I thought.

"You've kept to yourself, lived like a monk. I never see you with dames, human or vamp. For that matter you don't get mixed up with humans. I always heard you were a bottle baby" there he was referring to my bagged blood fetish.

"And how would you have done it?" I asked, eye to eye with him, both of us, elbows on the mahogany bar.

"Oh, hell no. If I had Carole with me maybe. Being alone I like the ladies, the ebb and flow of the skirts. Being older isn't bad, women like the "older man. Every few years they bring back "Run Silent, Run Deep" or "Gone with the Wind" and I catch all the skirt I need. Mick, leave the monastery, excuse the expression, and live a little" he chewed at the short cigar urging a few more smoke rings out of his mouth.

I laugh a bit at him, "So I should lighten up?"

"I saw you with Tierney Taylor and I thought you had turned a corner, shame about that girl. Any other revelations you'd like to know tonight?" He wiped the bar and raised that eyebrow at me as he stubbed out the cigar in the ashtray.

I shook my head and put a bill on the bar, picked up my keys and said good night. The night was silent as I drove along the coast with the top down. The clouds painted a mask over the moon. I was enthralled by the blue black sky and the stars. On the road, it was just me and my thoughts.

When you're faced with a puzzle, the easiest solution is sometimes the right one. I've spent 20 some years alone, imagining a little girl growing up. Having no photos, no files I now understand my very active imagination conjured this perfect woman to be the antithesis of Coraline. I grew her as you would grow a specimen rose, alone in my loft. I pruned away the things that were bitter or hurtful and fostered a fantasy of a beautifully innocent but damaged woman that needed me as much as I needed her.

My fantasy has been uprooted by reality and for the first time in this nature, I am ready for reality.

Part 5

Mick's POV:

So she's game for a jazz club. When was the last time I sailed away on the hurly burly of 4 cats improvising, while a stacked, throaty gal sang scat? Would a youngster like Beth stare as they traveled on their individual paths to a single hot destination?

These thoughts ran through my head as I removed my clothes. Before I cast off the shirt I took a long draw on her scent, then smiling tossed it into the hamper. I stood in the shower while the force of the cool streams flushed the day's decay away. It was in this shower I imagined holding Beth, writhing under the influence of Black Crystal, while she begged me to turn her. I can almost feel her weight against me as I thought I brought her back from the edge. How really foolish I feel now. It was one of those day dreams that consumed 8,000+ days of my eternity.

My Sunday evening found me at Josef's for a little sports and dinner. Without a lot of prodding Josef understand my desire to be unencumbered to my food sources. I appreciate a fresh A+, this is not the place to find Miss Right, nor is feeding Vamps the place to meet your Prince Charming.

Tonight he has his usual peep show going on around the pool. At dusk the lavender sky catches the orange orb and the vamps come out to play around the sensuously lit water. Its redhead night and I have a few words with his Freshie Mother, Elena. There in the pool strokes a strong, leggy beauty. She pulls herself out of the water and sits her firm ass poolside, ivory freckle speckled legs still in the water. Wringing the water out of the shoulder length hair she smiles back at me. Elena delivers a towel to her and within 30 minutes Maddy stands before me, dry and fragrant in a teal linen Kimono.

"Good Evening, Mr. St. John, I'm Maddy" she extends her well-manicured hand to me.

"Hello, Maddy. Have you done this before?" I want experience to guide my inexperience.

"Yes, Sir, many times" and she offers her wrists as proof.

"Would you like a drink?" I offer and she shakes her head no and sits beside me, tossing the mane of auburn hair aside to reveal a freckle dusted ivory throat. Nary had a bit of makeup on her elegant face, taut young skin covered the freeway of her veins. I noticed the recently released endorphins from her laps in the pool and the body wash she had just used.

She offers my choice of hands and I view the well healed minute marks a skilled vamp leaves.

My arm encircles her shoulders to tactilely consume her luscious aura. She sighs joyfully at my touch as my palm skims down her back to rest at her waist. We draw face to face as she drapes her body across my lap, gazing up with half lidded hazel eyes. She drew her knees and rolled into my chest, slipping a delicate hand around my back to slip a thumb in my belt loop, holding tight. Lifting her wrist the rush begins, my tongue sought her pulse and she exhaled in anticipation. At my bite we draw close and hold each other thru the exchange of warm passionate waves. My skin warms to her as I taste the energy of her athletic blood.

Her vitality met my thirst

My desire met her generosity

Our appetites satisfied our hunger

When I heard and scented her orgasm and felt her deep slow breathes I released and kissed the small wounds nearly closed. I lifted her and carried her to the chaise where she curled under her down throw. Dimming the light I slid out of the room, making my getaway, almost.

"To my amazement, here's Mick St John feeding fresh twice within 1 week!" Josef's pie face grin was in front of me as I attempted to leave. He shook his head and released his necktie and unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt.

"I want to thank you for your hospitality" as I followed him to his study and plunked down in the leather chair opposite his desk.

"So you are returning to the fold after what, 22, 23 years?" he sat on the front edge of the desk, drumming his fingertips.

"That's true" I was keeping my answers short….didn't want to invite more queries. I didn't want to hear "I told you so".

"So, do I need to send a grocery bill by the meal or a monthly rate?" his eyebrows rose in question.

"Will you deliver or will I always be eating out?" I poke back at him.

"This isn't Pizza Hut; it's worth the drive, boyo". Josef smirked.

"Sure, you have the staff in place to Freshie sit after my meals…and they'd be happier here, I don't have a pool" I joked as I thought of a gaggle of Freshies invading the fortress.

"So what sparked the change?"

I prepared to bolt when Josef anticipated it and stood over me, pinning me in the chair.

"Can't a vamp change his mind?" I asked as we peered almost eye to eye.

"You would not be the Mick I love and admire if you honestly expected me to believe you" then he stepped back with fists on hips and I knew he was expecting an answer.

Better to fess up and be done, whenever Josef is involved.

"I'm working more in the human world; I need my wits about me, my control. When I master all the subtleties I'll know I'll have al the control I need. I'll be top of my game." I was rambling.

"Mick, who writes your stuff, Vamp Life Quarterly?" How about you feed because it's what we do? It's our nature?" Josef stepped back to the edge of his desk and sat back smiling. "You never have to apologize for what you are or for taking your nourishment. It's a big world and there are plenty of willing Freshies. I'll always have your back."

If he ever thought there was another reason for my 23 year bagged blood habit Josef never let on, he just welcomed me back into the fold.

About Tuesday I sent a bouquet of spring flowers to the school with a Jazz CD and a note that I was looking forward to our date. Within the hour of delivery I got a phone call, I knew it was her….but didn't admit it.

"St. John Investigations" I answered on the 3rd ring, trying to be cool.

"Mick, is that you?" Beth asked.

"Is this Beth?" Of course it was Beth…..

"Yes, and I wanted to call and thank you, the children love the flowers as much as I do. We listened to the CD while they lay down, it really relaxed them. You are such a gentleman!" She was genuinely pleased and that doubly pleased me.

"It was going to be so long until we were getting together again, I didn't want you to forget me" I felt 17 again.

"Forget you?….I don't think so…..Do you roller skate? I'm chaperoning a class skating party tonight at 6:30-8:00, would you like to join me afterwards, and we could have coffee or a drink" she was hopeful.

Not wanting to experience the cacophony of 24 five year olds pounding skates on wood, I agreed to meet her at a wine bar about 9pm.

I stood opposite the door, waiting to see her. I got there early in case she hurried. I had ordered a bottle of wine opened and sat there drinking scotch neat until it seemed her smile preceded her. If I say I felt her before I saw her, you'd think I was playing some vampire game. This was emotion, not vampire instinct.

She was flush from skating circles and her blood was literally bubbling within her. I could have gotten a contact high just holding her. I pulled up a barstool at the table and poured her a glass of wine. "Are you hungry?" I knew she could eat; the lady has an appetite for treats other than roller rink pizza. I ordered a plate of tapas, and enjoyed watching her eat enthusiastically as we made small talk. By 11pm we were wrapping up the smiling competition and I settled the check and we walked to her car.

The breeze blew her scent, a mixture of her skating's glow of perspiration, her cologne, the wine and finger foods she snacked on. I wanted to snack on her, just a little bite and I knew that would be bad form, no bites before the 7th or 8th date at least I laughed to myself.

She unlocked the car and threw her purse in the front seat, then shut the door and leaned against it, as if she beckoned me to embrace her. I stepped toward her, placing my palm on the car hood, bracing myself an arm's distance from her. Beth laid her arm on top of mine and reached for my free hand. My staunch resolve was evaporating as we seemed to be melting toward each other. If I could keep my belt buckle from grazing her waist I'd feel like the Captain of Self Control.

It wasn't vamp speed, just old fashioned romance that drew our lips together. "You smell great" she whispered as she released from the first chaste kiss, our bodies fully apart.

Would I have been impertinent to say "You taste great"? let me save that for later, how about "You do too" as I move a half step closer to kiss again. She pulls me to her breasts and our arms wrap tentatively around each other's shoulders. I pull back and say "Good night until Saturday, OK?" and she releases me, nodding and grinning.

"Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" she giggles and crawls into the car, whirring away before I can gather my senses to reach for my car keys.

It's all I can do to keep from singing with the top down….

Old Blue Eyes sings it best

.com/watch?v=2WQiTys6FA4

I never cared much for moonlit skies, I never wink back at fireflies

But now that the stars are in your eyes I'm beginning to see the light

I never went in for afterglow or candlelight on the mistletoe

But now when you turn the lamp down low I'm beginning to see the light

Used to ramble through the park, Shadowboxing in the dark

Then you came and caused a spark that's a four-alarm fire now

I never made love by lantern-shine I never saw rainbows in my wine

But now that your lips are burning mine I'm beginning to see the light

Part 6

Mick's POV:

Satisfying my new appetite took some getting used to. Instead of a leisurely rising and hitting the hidden fridge for a pint, I'm up earlier, showered, dressed and in the car to Dad's house…Oh how Josef hates when I wander in and ask if I can raid the cookie jar. Even with the satiric verbal sparing Josef and I are closer than ever, as if I come into my own. I don't feel the training wheels are off yet, I just don't have craving for the cure or the taste for dead blood.

I understand Josef and Simone, and this could be a clue to where my life is going. Having "the list" disappear due to a Frat prank made being a Vampire so much easier in LA. You may say that I have commitment issues when I do not want to date a woman vamp….I just haven't met the right one.

On the other hand, this new girl I met, she is intriguing on the simplest level. I don't have to save her; I don't have to watch her. I work, enjoy eating and look forward to socializing. I'll cross the vampire subject when we get to it. The more control I gain with my dining, the more control I'll have when we seal the deal.

Oh, back to Simone. Did I ever think Josef would prefer the company of his Freshie? No…I didn't think he'd ever desire a relationship with a human. After Sara's sad outcome I figured the choice would be a poor one for me too. Following Josef's lead I could easily entertain my new Beth for a few years allowing her a decision I did not have,

I watch Simone with Josef, and I watch his gaze as she moves through a room. He's totally taken with the lit of her voice and in turn, she hangs on his every word. Imagine Josef being bit by the green eyed monster when he thought Simone was swapping spit with an athlete….yeah…it got me too that he was smitten.

So as Wednesday melts into Thursday and Friday I have a little pop in my step and I took the car to have it detailed. Beth trusts me enough to let me pick her up for date number 2. Yeah….middle of the week at the wine bar, well it was Date 1.5. When the car came back the leather glowed and the chrome was blinding. Lots of chrome on Raquel (I named her after Raquel Welch because she has great curves).

Saturday finds me in a meticulous mood. The lid opens gently and I brush the frost off my hair and brows. I've laid out my clothes and I switch out my lucky shirt for a blue back dress shirt with French cuffs, black trousers and my Black blazer. The gunmetal cuff links and belt buckle match. Allowing enough time to feed I fly to the car and drop the top. I'm a little presumptuous and I have a deep green silk scarf, I know it matches the car….I just thought it would be nice for Beth's new hair style when the top is down and I'm hoping she's in the passenger seat a lot more in the future. The package is sitting on the seat for her to find when I pick her up.

I erred on the side of 2-3 minutes late. I wanted to give her all the time she needed….just in case she was as nervous as I was.

Date Night…serious "get dressed up and pick the girl up date night". I arrived at her address, strangely the same address as the apartment I had dreamed of coming to. When she opened the door it nearly gasped. Beth stood in a classic off the shoulder little black dress. Her minimal tan played off between her blond hair in loosely tangled curls and the black satin.

"Come on in, I just want to set a couple of timers" she invited me across the threshold into a new world for me. I followed the sway of her hips in those tall shoes.

"You look wonderful" I blurted out, hoping she didn't think she just looked wonderful walking away…..

The room was decorated with ornately carved Victorian furniture and the walls were painted in deep burgundy with an ornate cabbage rose border at the ceiling. Pictures hung from velvet ribbons and the two tall chairs opposite the sofa held old crocheted antimacassars. Tall palms occupied the corners, giving the illusion of cooling the room.

Beth walked within my view into her bedroom, just where I remembered it to be. The white and brass iron double bed looked like an authentic antique and the coverlet was ornately embroidered with 4 fat pillows standing tall, just perfect for breakfast in bed or reading the newspaper with her coffee. She set a timer on the lamp next to the bed and then set the TV to go off in 2 hours.

"Living alone I like to make people think I'm here, especially on Saturday nights". She picked up a small evening bag and a shawl, "What's the weather like tonight? Coat or Shawl?" She held up one and then the other for my call.

"How about the coat and we can check it at the club" I suggested. She nodded and laid the shawl across the chaise next to her bed. What a romantic home she had made for herself. No wonder she always seemed peaceful. Beth walked back into the kitchen and set the timer on the coffee pot and then moved her wallet and keys into her small purse.

"I am a wreck without my coffee, I got this grind and brew pot and I am in heaven. If I set the night before I can sleep just a bit later" She measured the time squinting and holding up her thumb and index finger, smiling.

"I wonder if I might trouble you and use your washroom before we leave?" she nodded her head and I followed her unneeded. I closed the door behind me and leaned on the sink, staring in the mirror.

"Hah, vampire….I can see you in the mirror" I ran water while I inhaled the scents and history of the room. This was not where I imagined so many things had happened. None of the scents were right, none of them familiar. I washed my hands and dried them with the rose imprinted hand towel on the counter, hope she meant for it to be used. I am a guy, how would I know?

We were out of the apartment and down the hall before she said anything, two silent almost strangers. She smiled at the car, in all its classic glory. "This is the greatest car. Was this your Dad's car?" she stood back not touching the sill as she peeked into the leather interior. The boot shone in the streetlight.

"Yeah, yea, this is the only car I really remember" I reached into the seat and produced the small gift bag with the scarf. "This is for you, so your hair stays ah, stays styled".

She seemed surprised and I opened the car door and she sat and swiveled into the seat, gift on her lap. She separated the tissue and pulled out the 8 feet of silk chiffon. Her eyes danced as she thought about how to tie it, I could see it in her expression. She was too young to remember Grace Kelley or Marilyn riding in a convertible with sunglasses and a scarf.

"May I?" I asked as I picked up the length and began to wrap in the way Coraline would wrap her loose brunette locks before she'd tear down the road in the full moonlight. I brushed her cheek as I tied the knot around her chin.

We both smiled and I slid the key into the ignition and got us moving down the road. Once at the club I tossed the keys to the valet and gather Beth for the walk into the club, carefully behind her my hand hovered at her waist, practicing for the day when she'd feel more familiar.

Freddy welcomed me with a two fisted hand shake and a nod to Beth, "Mick, it's been a while. You want to sit in any or were you just entertaining tableside tonight?" as he grinned toward Beth.

"Just came for the show tonight, Freddy." As we walked in the duo was playing the first of their set, soft and slow it set a certain tone for us as we walked to our reserved table.

"Did you want to get a bottle of wine, or something else?" I handed her the wine list and she read it carefully and then asked about a Shiraz they had. Getting the server's opinion I ordered the bottle for us and felt her glow even being a foot away from her in the round booth.

While the group wove their music I could tell she was a child of her generation, almost wondering what to do with her time, wondering how to relax and absorb the vibe and watch the musicians while they interacted to create the live sound. I melted back into the booth's leather and watched her watch the room. Within a song or two I was confident enough to lay my arm across the top of the banquet and although it was inches from her shoulders I felt the force field that emanated off her shoulders in that dress.

At the break, Freddy stopped by the table. "Everything to your liking tonight?" This impressed Beth enough to bring out her 1000 watt smile and she explained that it was her first time at such a place. We made small talk and then he continued circulating through the room. She was beginning to face me more, tucking her feet up under her bottom as she sat sideways, her knees touching my hip. She drank her wine and played a bit with her hair. We made small talk quietly about everything and nothing, her favorite ice cream is chunky monkey, our favorite color is blue, my favorite wines are red.

"Do they mind if you talk?" she asked very softly.

I countered with "Would you like to dance?" I'll admit as far back as there were couples, men asked to dance just to get "the girl" in their arms.

(Soundtrack: Pat Metheny Group- Are you going with me?)

"I never took dancing lessons like this, but I can tap dance" she smirked as she did a time step on the dance floor to the chagrin of the other couples on the dance floor.

I shook my head and smiled, "Don't worry, I'll lead, just do everything I do, backwards."

"And in high heels" she finished Ginger Rogers's quote about dancing with Fred Astaire. Sharp girl! I held her loosely, my hand fixed at the small of her waist on that slick satin. Her hand fit in mine and we bobbed and wove around the floor with just a couple of minor missteps. We had that surprised look when the band wrapped up the 8 minutes of music.

I led her back to the table and we finished up the bottle of Shiraz. The cool Nordic blond took the stage and began the song acapella, and then the band joined in with light notes behind her.

(Please open a window in YouTube and enjoy the song- "The moon's a harsh mistress" - Vigdis Wisur, Norway)

_**See her how she flies golden sails across the sky**_

_**Close enough to touch but careful if you try**_

_**Though she looks as warm as gold**_

_**The moon's a harsh mistress, the moon can be so cold**_

_**Once the sun did shine, Lord, it felt so fine**_

_**The moon a phantom rose through the mountains and the pines**_

_**And then the darkness fell and the moon's a harsh mistress**_

_**It's so hard to love her well**_

With the slow picking of the guitar solo, she eased back into the hollow of my arm and laid her head on me. Her warmth melted against me and I sat hoping the warmth of my earlier feeding had hovered. I watched as she was dreamy eyed and I took my cue to get my Cinderella home before midnight. When I moved she gave that little jump that a completely relaxed human makes at another's move. We shared a smile and I asked, "About time to call it an evening?" she nodded and I rose to take her hand to leave.

_**I fell out of her eyes, I fell out of her heart, I fell down on my face**_

_**Yes, I did, and I - I tripped and I missed my star**_

_**God, I fell and I fell alone, I fell alone**_

_**And the moon's a harsh mistress and the sky is made of stone**_

_**The moon's a harsh mistress she's hard to call your own.**_

I helped her with her coat and she pulled the scarf out of the pocket and artfully wrapped and tied it as I had hours ago. She blushed as I held the car door for her and we rode the scenic route home as she held up her hands as they rode the wind. We talked about her favorite songs of the evening and I asked her if she had a good time. "I can't believe I've never done this before, it was so, so Casablanca". She relaxed back into my shoulder and closed her eyes until the car rolled to a stop at her place.

We sat for a moment in the car and I slid back the scarf where it was falling over her forehead. She caught my hand and she put it on her shoulder and drew to me, I lifted her chin to see eye to eye and we kissed more fluidly than Tuesday night. Light lips met at first and lingered, pulling away for a second then meeting again more sustained with each encounter. We both started to speak at the same time, "Excuse, me…go ahead" flew out of both of our mouths and brought smiles to our faces.

"I had a very good time, it was so romantic and you look great and I loved hearing live music". She slid to the car door and I helped her out and began the walk up to her door. We held hands for the first time as we entered the building and made our way to her door. She unlocked the door and stood before it, reaching out for a last kiss. I made an effort not to step into a tight hug; I couldn't have left if I had pressed myself against her. We said our "goodnights" I let her go.

She hesitated and asked me "Did you ever find the Beth you were looking for?"

"Yes, yes I did." I quietly answered as she stepped back into her living room…..

Series continues with LOVE DISCOVERED


	3. Chapter 3 LOVE DISCOVERED

LOVE DISCOVERED

_**This is a continuation of my AU Fanfic series. The sequel to LOVE DENIED**_

_**What IF the girl that Mick rescued in 1985 didn't grow up to be Beth Turner, Buzzwire Reporter?**_

_**What if he got a date with a girl who didn't know anything about REAL Vampires?**_

_**What if they found themselves falling in love?**_

**Prologue**

Mick's POV:

I rousted myself Sunday evening and returned to Josef's for some lively refreshment.

"When you return to earth maybe you can tell me about her" His back was turned to me when I entered his game room.

"You know Josef, when I'm 400 years old perhaps I'll be able to temper my abilities with some discretion." If only…I thought.

"But you won't want to….the curiosity will kill you. Good thing we bounce back, right?" he spun on his heel and grinned that "Josef knows almost everything smile"

"Good evening, Josef, how are you doing tonight?" Just wanting to start a conversation without the prurient details I tried to redirect him, what a lost cause….

"Mick, remember the last time you dated outside your species?" and he lifted his arm and made biting motions.

"What do you mean?" he had me there.

"When you were young, when you were human….you pursued Coraline…what did you get for your efforts…that self-loathing angst that I have just lately seen you outgrow". He seemed to notice my revolution and I knew he wanted to know more.

"So you smell her on me, and you know the restraint we both exercised. What more did you feel you need to know?" I was a bit miffed at the notion that Josef thought I needed dating hints.

"Ouch, I felt that. I just wanted to hear all about her…you seem to be taking a lot of big steps in short time and I wanted to see where you head was…kind of wondering why we haven't talked in a while"

Poor Josef….wanted a shot of BFF inside info.

"I mean I could rely on gossip and innuendo, when the details in your words would be so much more stimulating" he was ribbing me big time now and he almost got to me.

"She's a nice girl" I began as he mouthed the words with a wince.

"So you have stepped out of the angst closet to go directly to debauching nice girls with your vampire habits? Are you ready for this yet….you got to walk before you run" He was half joking and half serious.

"It was just a coincidental meeting on a case. She called me back and we met for drinks, and then met for wine and I took her to a jazz club last night. She's young, human and she holds her own when it comes to conversation." I felt that was sufficient.

"Holds her own when it comes to conversation, WOW, Mick, I never thought I'd hear those words from a fellow Vamp." He was almost beginning to laugh at me and that pissed me off.

"Hey, hot shot, not everyone has 400 of years of experience to develop their conversation skills. You can build a beautiful woman with all the techniques these days, you can't fix stupid."

I walked around to the bar and poured myself a scotch. I turned to catch him whiping the smile off his face.

"You got me boyo, you CAN'T fix stupid. I think that's why I enjoy Simone." And he left it at that….just when I wanted to know more, when I wanted a clue, Josef stopped.

"So, where do you see that going? She knows all about us, she's one of your favorites" my fishing expedition had begun.

**Love Discovered, Part 1**

Mick's POV:

"Dating outside my species…".the term rebounding off the folds in my brain produced almost a vibration. Why did Josef have to bring up Coraline? I sat alone in his gathering room, watching the movement of the lithe freshies as they spent the twilight around the pool, the haze of the city lying beneath us as it lit up.

The lights grew as the night encroached and I lay back remembering the sparkler in her hand, the glossy black hair and her look over the shoulder. Why me? What made me special?

(LOVE SONG FOR A VAMPIRE)

_**Come into these arms again and lay your body down**_

_**The rhythm of this trembling heart is beating like a drum**_

_**It beats for you, it bleeds for you, it knows not how it sounds,**_

_**For it is the drum of drums, it is the Song of Songs**_

**DECADES BEFORE**

Almost Creole in her appearance, her dark good looks stood apart from the entire crowd, especially her blonde girl friend that hung two steps behind her. I strummed my guitar half heartedly, just doing time with the rest of the band. Not that I ever thought we'd make the big time and live like this dame did. I didn't know where she got our name, didn't remember her from any of the clubs we played and I'd remember her if I had ever met her before.

Then she came to me, like I was in charge, the conversation was a jumble at the time, something about playing something livelier, my question about the Devil's music. If I had only known I wrote the check to the Devil that night and signed it with my blood.

The decades change, the lingo changes, when someone asks you if you want to "get wet" it means someone is going to have an indelible experience. She ruined me for other women when I unzipped the chiffon gown and something so diaphanous became heavy and fell away from her curves. I spied the dimples over the curve of her buttocks and it was bye-bye to my chinos and Hawaiian shirt. The fog hung over the pool and she lowered herself without wetting her hair, her white body glowing in the blue-white water, she turned to me and stared, "Afraid of the water?"

I had no choice, I was there, I was naked, and she had sunk hooks in my soul.

_**Once I had the rarest rose that ever deigned to bloom**_

_**Cruel winter chilled the bud and stole my flower too soon**_

I had been with European women during the war. From their fatalist attitude that death could come at the end of a German bayonet, they gladly gave close quarter to randy GI's, I being no exception to taste the wine of a mademoiselle in a dark barn. A stolen moment like that was all the warmth we carried into the inevitable frozen foxhole. The most brazen of my war experiences were about to be eclipsed. No wading in shallow pools tonight.

I dove with the least splash possible and stroked to stand before her in the shallow end. Her palms rose to my shoulders and gave me a cold shock as she drew me to her glowing skin in the warm water. Her hard nipples touched my wet chest and immediately my erection twitched and lengthened. Floating it tapped at the thatch of black hair at the top of her thighs. She stood resolute in her seduction and moved to catch my length with just her thighs. Her inner lips rode my hardness while her arms grasped my upper body for her life.

My hands found her white throat and I traveled up to cup her face in the glow of the pool. The blue white pool light gave her a deathly pallor that looked ghostly and enchanting. To kiss her, I could bring her to life. Black wide eyes sought my gaze and red lips pursed silently before she tattooed me with her taste. Her tongue danced at my lips as I opened wider. I began to need air and my tongue fought her off and I turned my head for a gasp of breath.

While my neck was turned I heard a moan so soft and low it sent a shudder thru both of us.

_**Oh loneliness oh hopelessness!**_

_**To search the ends of time for there is (for there is)**_

_**In all the world no greater love than mine**_

She laid those lips on me and a hot flash shot my heart. I jumped and she held me, eye to eye we stood still. "You are really something, Mick; I'd like to taste you"

Little did I know she actually meant it.

I understood it to mean she wanted to give me head, as she then dove under the water, hovering under the fan of black wet hair on the surface. Coraline grasped me with both hands and began her lip's work, stroking from tip to root. She stayed under water while she stroked and coddled and sucked my length until my buttocks nearly cramped and my thighs legs shook. I exploded in her mouth, without even thinking how she could sustain such attention without breathing. Left weak, she floated me over to the wide pool steps and laid me back, kissing and stroking me my eyes, my ears, my neck, my chest, I floated away that night thinking I had surely died and gone to heaven.

I woke up hours later on the chaise next to the pool. I found the glass house, dark and locked, the patio and pool lights out, even the crickets asleep in the predawn darkness. Naked I prowled the pool deck, navigating around patio furniture by the moonlight glowing in the black glass finish off the pool. I gathered my clothes and saw the guys had left Smitty's car with the keys in the visor. A note on the dashboard said "smooth move, St. John".

By dawn I had driven home, eyes glazed over by her indelible beauty and total skill as rendering me wasted. I must have had a great time, my balls were sore and tight, and I had scratches on my buttocks and shoulders deep enough to be healing light scabs. Yeah…I must have had a great time. I spent the next week wondering if I'd ever see her again. I found myself peering over the crowds at gigs. Not that she'd hang where we played, yet maybe she'd slum and come to see me.

_**Love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love**_

_**Still falls the rain (still falls the rain)**_

_**Love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love**_

_**Still falls the night**_

Coraline tracked me down, brought some guy with dark blond hair in a wide lapel suit with her. They looked married since they sat never touching each other, sharing very few words. She chained smoked and drank martinis, he eyed the dolls and drank scotch neat. Years later I'd know him as Josef Kostan, that night he was Charles Fitzgerald.

I took a break out back and while I puffed away on a fat reefer someone came up behind me and grabbed my ass. I jumped out of the grasp and barked, "Smitty, cut it out you fag".

"Mick, I can assure you my name is Coraline and I am no fag". She appeared like a specter, glowing in a peach halter dress split to her navel. In gold ankle strap shoes she stood nearly as tall as I. One look and a sniff and my dick twitched again with my name rolling off her talented tongue.

"Aren't you here with somebody?" I asked, toking hard on the joint before snuffing the ember and dropping the roach into a tobacco tin in my pocket.

"He's nobody". Her eyes wandered the area and she pushed me back against the car trunk and grabbed at my belt. In short time my trousers dropped to the parking lot with a clink of change and keys. She dropped to her knees and "boom, boom, boom out went the lights" She held me on the edge of coming for so long I was nearly blind. She worked me with fingers, lips and tongue until I grasped the car for support, moaning "Coraline" over and over successively louder. I was sure the sound was traveling for blocks and I did not care one iota.

When I could feel my legs again she was gone. I was sure she had been an hallucination from Smitty's weed, although there I was across the back of someone's Ford with my trousers around my ankles and lipstick on my dipstick.

I went back into the bar and played harder than I had in ages. I felt each note in my bones and the vibrations ran from my heart to the frets on my guitar.

When we packed up there was a fancy heavy weight ivory envelope embossed with a gold "D" on the back flap.

_Dear Mick_

_See what you do to me? I ruined my stockings giving you head. I couldn't help it, you do that to me._

_I want to see you again-what night are you free? Call me, HE5-4042_

_Love, _

_C_

A red lipstick tattoo of her lips rode over the word "LOVE".

I held it to me and smelled her cologne.

_**Love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love**_

_**Be mine forever (Be mine forever)**_

_**Love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love, oh love**_

I chased her until she caught me. She wanted to go to a costume party, which I thought was really stupid. I hadn't been to one since I was in sixth or seventh grade. I relented and arrived at her house dressed like Julius Caesar. She was as devastatingly beautiful as the true Cleopatra and my hands burned to touch her, yet that night she was aloof and strict in her behavior. I thought perhaps everything she had done to me previously was my imagination, until she took me back to the glass house after the party.

Amid the 20 or so candles and the glow of the fireplace, she took me on a dark bear skin rug. Astride my hips, Coraline poured vodka over me and lapped it as quickly as it traveled over my body, she followed with a fragrant candle and trailed the liquid wax over my nipples, palming them and rubbing the cooling wax until my skin shone in the dim light.

Bending close over me she whispered, "Have you ever felt the moon shone just for us?" and I grinned like a conquering general. "Haven't you always wanted to be young and strong and vital and hard?" she asked riding me deep and slow. All I could do was hum and moan approvingly.

"Love me forever, then. Tell me you love me and that you'll love me forever" she begged.

There were no words as I moaned and lost control. She lay over me, covering me with her body, pulling a cashmere blanket over us. Lost in her perfume and the smell of sex I slept. In the morning I was alone, again.

_**Let me be the only one to keep you from the cold**_

_**Now the floor of heaven's lain with stars of brightest gold**_

_**They shine for you, they shine for you, they burn for all to see**_

_**Come into these arms again and set this spirit free**_

**Part 2**

Mick's POV

By the time that memory faded and I lifted my head up the night had overtaken the twilight. The freshies had moved inside, several of them eating from their buffet and waiting for their call to feed Josef and his guests.

I fed more for hunger than the touch of another and being more confident than before I wandered back to Josef's study. My movement caught his eye and he waved me in.

"Mick, I didn't mean to bust your chops over Coraline, it's just you've been through so many changes in such a short time, 8 months ago you went into some sort of funk, now you're out feeding fresh after 50 some years." He wanted to go on, his shoulders up, his hands in that "I don't know" position.

I ducked the words and sat in the chair, elbows on knees, head down. "Josef, I realize I've thrown you a curve ball, the last year has been different for me."

"Mick, I figured the last angsty vamp in LA would finally come around…..I just didn't know if I'd live to see it. So it took you a few decades to accept your Wife's wedding gift."

Josef chose his words carefully. "What I want to know and I'll get it out of you eventually, what have you been going through since about last October?" He was in my face in vamp speed and that meant he wanted answers

I knew the imaginary Beth period of my life had been one of operating on auto pilot while part of my mind and heart fixated on my surreal girlfriend. She wasn't Harvey the Rabbit that I had paraded around to the chagrin of my friends. To the best of my knowledge from the time I had imagined a reporter at a fountain I had tuned into all things Beth Turner and tuned out socializing with the tribe. My interactions had consisted of visiting Guillermo and once or twice with Josef on tribe business.

The only Vamp that knew of a human in my life was G, as he had asked if I had "cut my human loose", I must have mentioned her as one of the reasons for buying bagged blood.

"Planet Earth to Major Mick?" Josef snapped his fingers. "When I clap you will assume the shape of a bat and fly out of my window".

"Uhum…yeah, that would be neat" I smiled and sat back, giving him my full attention.

"You really slid into a bat cave last fall, got secretive. Now suddenly you're feeding fresh, you're talking about humans and vamps and you smell like someone I've never met. Did I smell children in her scent?" Josef was incredulous. He knew my opinion about respect for women and children. "With your appetite for freshies is hanging around a woman with children very bright?"

"Well, let's travel from now to the past, OK? I have seen a Kindergarten Teacher for a whole 3 dates. You know how scents hang. We've danced, drank wine, I'm going to see her again….." then I hesitated

"She doesn't know what I am, and I'm not ready to even go near the topic. I wouldn't even know how to open the subject." I chewed at my bottom lip while I watched Josef's reaction.

"Is this something you want help with, or are you expecting to cut it off before she starts picking china patterns?" Josef always lays it out.

"I think I may be in love with her, she means something fresh and good and I don't have a clue what to do. I sat out there and remembered how Coraline just took over and bum-rushed me. Once she had me by my balls, my mind and heart followed." I confessed.

"So you don't want to do the ambush method? Wise choice, brother." Josef rose and retrieved his smaller humidor and held it open to me for my choice. I pointed to a 50 ring Cuban and he removed the wrapper, cut the end and extended it to me. His torch lighter lit the end while I sucked it to life. He made his choice and repeated the process until he sat opposite me, the two of us under the cloud of tobacco smoke.

"Mick…..tell me what happened last October?" His brown eyes, wide with inquiry bored into me. I needed to be honest and spill.

It was dawn when we were finished talking. Four Freshies, three bottles of 25 year old single malt and the remnants of a dozen large cigars littered the sofas and tables in the room. Josef was pacing the floor, running his hand through his hair, "Jesus, Mick, these were months full of delusions. Are you ok now? I mean how can keep fact from fiction straight now?" His voice was raw from the talking, the smoking and our crying together.

"I realize what I am; I realize what I can do and what I should do. My boundaries stand, no killing to feed. I won't hunt to feed, if I can exercise the control I have now I know I can function just as clearly as you, Josef". I declared my vision statement.

"So the child you rescued blew you off after you saved her? The girl you mistakenly rang up was also named Beth Turner and she called you back after the news caught wind of your saving that Caroline Bishop…who used to be Beth Turner?"

Josef shook his head and rubbed his eyes with his thumbs. "All we need is a couple of dancing elephants and a few musical numbers and we can call Baz Luhrman to refilm Moulin Rouge."

"Did you want to meet her?" I asked Josef as he was walking me to the door. Josef grinned at the prospect of a wholesome woman with a Monday-Friday job crossing the threshold of Casa Kostan.

"Sure, when you get to the point you can corral her at your place I'll drop by for drinks, and I'll promise not to tap her vein." Josef's eyes were closing and I popped my collar and slid my sunglasses on, making a trot to my car.

All the way back to my place I repeated with different inflections,

"Beth, I'm different",

"Beth, I'm 85",

"Beth, I'm …..a …..Vampire",

"Beth, I'm a Vampire",

"_**Beth, I'm a VAMPIRE"**_

**Part 3**

Mick's POV:

I knew it wasn't the time to mention my dietary habits with my new friend. I even knew my fascination could fade in the next few dates. We were still tippy-toeing around each other in very polite ways. A few French kisses were an invitation to discovery, not to move in, unless you were Coraline.

This evening I wanted to lose myself on the road, find a precipice and watch the lights move in the diorama below me. In the quiet I listen to the sounds of the night, feel the wind in my face and smell the foliage on the trees surrounding me. It was no coincidence I'd usually end up near the glass house. My name was on the deed so the key was on my ring hanging mostly untouched. Until tonight.

I let myself in thinking of all that I had traded for this million dollar real estate. Yards of muslin shrouded the sleek furniture forming angular ghosts. The ambient light was all I needed to step through the living room. I snapped the cover off the chaise and pushed it out the door to the patio and lowered myself for a spell.

The spirits of parties past rushed me. I wondered about Smitty, Dex and Johnny, my band mates. How were they or were they resting beneath the surface in peace? We had the world by the ass, playing all night, returning to our parents' home just before dawn stinking of gin and women. I'd sleep until I was rousted by the smell of lunch, and then I'd rise, shower and do a few chores for my Mother. She'd give me that "when will you grow up?" look while I had my gig bag in hand leaving for another night.

I flipped through my iPhone for some music and chose Miles Davis, "Cool Jazz". I dialed right past "Ain't that just like a woman" I wasn't in the mood for that memory tonight. I was thinking about the glow Beth had about her at the club, being close and watching her digest her first "jazz night". Behind me I could hear the glass walls expanding and contracting in the metal frame. It reminded me of the tenuous fulcrum I balanced on going into a relationship with a human.

At best, she'd accept me, eventually ask to be turned and we'd have 50 or 100 years before we decided to go our separate ways. At its worst, she'd run screaming into the arms of a Cleaning Crew sent to bury my secret. Too bad we didn't have the technology for the pen that Will Smith used in Men in Black to erase memories.

I stared back inside at the portrait painted for our fifth wedding anniversary. The impressively large oil hung over the fireplace. The homage to our half decade showed Coraline in her trademark lipstick red dress and me in a white dinner jacket with a red cummerbund and tie. We celebrated that night by turning the artist. He has a place in New York and paints all the movers and shakers. I remember the hours we held the pose and our subsonic bickering while we each smiled to the best of our ability.

Coraline's odalisque shape lay on this black leather chaise, her elbow on the armrest, her hand poised over her hollow equally black heart. The charade of our union was perpetrated by my devotion feigned by my pose. I sat behind her with one hand on her shoulder, my gaze directed adoringly at her like the dutiful husband I wasn't. Behind my façade was an angry vampire not yet brave enough to walk away from his sire. Coraline kept her hold on my libido while I filled her hard heart. Night after night we spat at each other while the artist painted vigorously.

I never understood why the portrait still hung in such a prominent place.

My phone rang, interrupting my reverie, "Beth, hello" that did the trick to bring a smile to my face.

"Hey, Mick, how are you doing tonight?" the softness in her voice was mesmerizing.

"I was just laying here watching the stars, listening to music. I'm great, how about you?" Now that you've called….I thought.

"The Symphony is this Saturday evening. I still have those two tickets. Would you be interested in being my guest?" I wasn't used to women asking me out, it kind of took the pressure off me!

"Sure, and perhaps if it's not too late we can go for drinks or dessert afterwards?" I can fake desert much easier than dinner.

"Mick, that's a plan I can look forward to" she almost giggled. We made some small talk about the week so far, some music she had downloaded and I suggested she check out Miles Davis' music. Then she got a little quiet.

"Speaking of music, I keep thinking about how much fun I had Saturday night. We need to do that again" there was a genuine ring of happiness in her voice." I sure enjoy how, uh…you"... And she began to stumble… "You've got manners, oh gosh my Mom would love to see you do all those things like open the doors and pull out chairs…she's such a purist".

"Well, how do you feel about it? I'm not embarrassing you or making you feel inferior am I?" All of a sudden I was thinking about women being sensitive to doors being held for them.

"Oh my god, no….I've never felt that way. You just go on being the gentleman and I will enjoy it, it's so singular!" She was giggling again.

We lapsed into more conversation about her Mom and I lay in the moonlight listening to her voice, mesmerized.

"Mick, I am such a blabbermouth, I didn't realize it was 10:30, I need to let you go…." But she didn't want to hang up.

"Before you hang up, Beth….." and she took a quick breath and let out a small humming sound. I started talking again…"Beth, um, are you seeing anyone now? If that's too personal, just tell me to mind my own business," then I started to blather a bit so I shut up.

"I haven't dated since I sent Anthony packing….when I got that first phone call when you were looking for that other Beth…I thought you were heaven sent. Heaven sent or playing a prank…Are you seeing anyone else, If I may ask?" She was having a lot of fun with this conversation.

"Actually it's been a long time since I've dated, so no, I am not seeing anyone other than you." Glad she didn't ask in what decade I last dated.

"So here we are….two single people who haven't dated in a while talking. It's kind of weird when you've had a long relationship and you start all over with a new person." She offered her opinion…..that made me wonder…...how long is long to her?

"So, how long were you together, if I'm not too forward?" Curiosity killed the vampire.

"We dated for 3 and a half years, the last year and a half were the longest of my life…" she drew out the last few words to accentuate the length of time. "And you, any skeletons in your closet?" Beth asked jovially.

"Wouldn't say skeletons exactly, just one bad experience, long time ago". That was enough to say about my marriage.

"You must have been young, they always seems to hurt the worst when you are young. I mean you're not old, oh god, I've just insulted your age and I don't even know how old you are!" I could almost see her shaking her head and maybe putting that beautiful hand over her mouth.

"While I haven't filled out my AARP papers yet, I am getting up there. You know, around 30," Plus fifty-five I thought.

"Well, that will give me something to look forward to, your 30th birthday, unless you've already had it and are rounding down" Beth was sharp; she knew all the age jokes. Beth just didn't know the saddest joke of them all, I would never be 31.

"Well, I will let you go, we have lingered haven't we?" I asked, hoping for a few moments more.

"Yes, let me let you go, I'm going to fall over in finger painting tomorrow. Good night, Mick, I'll see you Saturday." She waited for my reply.

"We can't have you teaching the youth with tempera paint on your forehead, good night Beth" and I silently kissed the phone as I closed the call.

(Please open a second window on YouTube and hear tonight's song-Billy Joel's "So It Goes")

_**In every heart there is a room, a sanctuary safe and strong**_

_**To heal the wounds from lovers past until a new one comes along**_

_**I spoke to you in cautious tones you answered me with no pretense**_

_**And still I feel I said too much my silence is my self defense**_

_**And every time I've held a rose it seems I only felt the thorns**_

_**And so it goes, and so it goes and so will you soon I suppose**_

I stood and pushed the chaise back into the house and recovered it with the muslin, restoring the ghost to leave the house as I found it.

As I drove home with the top down, I thanked my senses for articulating each word with Beth, how I hung on them and committed them to memory. She moved melodically in my mind, drifting between my thoughts insinuating smiles and hearty laughs at different aspects of the day, our conversations.

I weighed the words we shared tonight, simple conversation to reassure each other of pure intentions to befriend each other. Yet I knew on my side, I was guarded, telling half-truths where whole truths would be unexplainable.

How can I shed light on a relationship when I must live in the dark?

_**But if my silence made you leave then that would be my worst mistake**_

_**So I will share this room with you and you can have this heart to break**_

_**And this is why my eyes are closed it's just as well for all I've seen**_

_**And so it goes, and so it goes and you're the only one who knows**_

_**So I would choose to be with you that's if the choice were mine to make**_

_**But you can make decisions too and you can have this heart to break**_

_**And so it goes, and so it goes and you're the only one who knows**_

**Part 4**

Mick's POV:

How many weeks before I asked?

How many nights had I drawn of the sexual tension and gone home to stand punching on a heavy bag? The back and forth, the missed dates, the wet kisses and the wet dreams.

Fast forward to now and I function without experience running on adrenaline and raw instinct. As a callow human I had nothing to hide. I knew she had money, just not how much. Money wasn't what attracted me to her. Getting naked the first night we met, well that made an impression. I was ignorant enough to think I could hold my own with a beautiful, spoiled rich girl. I figured I could be the indolent arm candy – I was that infatuated. I didn't know the secret in the equation.

Once married if we were desperate we'd spend nights hunting. For me it was no easier when Coraline held one of her "dinner parties". 20 or so Vampires would assemble around the pool in the moonlight while a top drawer caterer would lay out a spread for the 25 or 30 human guests. Most of the guests knew more about the "life" than the hostess' husband.

I felt dirty with a blond in my lap her tiny waist in my arms, all cotton candy teased hair and pink lipstick. If Coraline didn't get to watch she'd pout later. As the time drew on the vapid lifestyle wore thin. I just wanted to eat and be done with that bloodletting.

I couldn't celebrate the meal the way she wanted to. I'd find the plainest freshie and hiding in the corner with a minimum of touching I feed from the wrist. If she found me, Coraline would whine and pout and make a scene about the lack of my vampire machismo, assault my manhood just enough to anger me and it would be a steel cage match of aggression and sexual revenge. Hours later we'd be exhausted and needing to feed, creating the circle all over again.

Talk about an eating disorder.

Today I watch for cues from Lorena. We're heading to the butter soft sofa in Josef's den.

"Hi, Mick" she saunters in with a whisky voice, flashing green eyes and golden waves of hair pinned back in tortoise clips. I rise as she approaches me and I offer a place next to me, she takes my hand and sits next to me, comfortable with her job.

"Lorena thanks for dinner. Do you mind if I ask you to take the clips out of your hair?" She grins and raises an eyebrow as if to say it hasn't been her oddest request. She removes the clips and flips her head over releasing the mane of hair, shaking it she sits back up with a tremendously beautiful flush to her coloring. Reaching for her she sits in my lap and extends her wrist. I smell fresh orange blossoms.

"Is there anything special that I can do for you, Mick?" Nothing seductive in her tone, as one of Josef's private stock she's either a masseuse or reflexologist.

"What did you have in mind tonight, Lorena?" It clicked in my heart that I had just asked Beth if she were dating and that I wasn't dating others. I waited for her answer.

"I do an excellent massage, according to Josef. Nothing like a massage and a meal to start the night right" Her eyes smiled with her lips and I figured, what the hell, why not?

She moved cushions to the floor and handed me the cashmere throw, "Go ahead and undress, cover yourself and I'll knock before I come back in"

She left while I drew off my clothes to the skin. I lay on my stomach and pulled the throw to my waist over me. The room was comfortable. At her knock I said "OK" and she pushed in a cart with a fluffy robe and various oils. She lit incense and did a small ritual to center herself, then took to the task at hand, to relax me.

She warmed the oil in her hands and began at my sacrum, doing each side twice, sweeping and kneading, then moving down each of my legs, gentle impulses back to the sacrum and up my spine.

I think I was uttering sounds….each side to side motion relaxed me more. She picked up each arm up and after working my lats, gently replacing my arm at my side. Her long strokes pressed upward and released downward, easing my knotted muscles.

Alternating her cross strokes she kept continual contact with me, warming me to her temperature. Her techniques had me on another level of existence, gentle yet powerful.

I lost myself in time until she whispered, "Mick, you need a pedicure". Her thumbs pressed to the heel and with broad strokes across my instep. Always being cold natured, this was really getting my appetite up

"What?" I almost levitated; "I'm a guy" I was humorously indignant and raised up on one elbow, looking incredulous at her.

"You didn't hear it from me, Josef gets them all the time" and her expression told me we needed to take this Intel to our graves.

"So ladies like men with nice feet? You saying my piggies don't pass inspection?" I wasn't put out…just thought I'd rib her a bit.

"I'm here to tell you, ladies like a complete package and these feet are the only things that don't look like the rest of you." She stifled a giggle and went on to complete my massage.

So now the food comes with dating advice.

She left me to redress, and I chose the robe until I showered after dinner. Lorena returned invigorated by the exercise involved in the 50 minute massage, I was a stimulated yet calm. Her steady strong heartbeat sang to me as she presented herself.

I pulled the robe tight over my body and tied the knot in the belt. Every square in of me sang in anticipation of Lorena's blood. She lay across my lap and we fused to one. I held out her arm and eyed the rushing vein. As crisp as an apple bite her tight flesh gave purchase to my fangs. The initial burst jolted us both as we clung for the ride.

A swallow for thirst,

a swallow for hunger,

the next for the pleasure of her taste.

I listened for her sighs as they lengthened to a deep declaration of ecstasy. Her warmth spread thru me as Lorena traded her blood for the singular physical experience a vampire can share.

Her eyes first heavy lidded slipped closed and I withdrew a lick and a kiss to close the small wounds. I was getting good at this. I lay her back on the sofa and shed the robe, covering Lorena for her nap.

Naked, I stretched and walked across the room to the window. It was a dark night and the Kostan estate looked as magnificent as I felt.

Here's where I get gutsy. I showered and dressed and made my "good-byes", heading out to the car I brought up Beth's number and push "call".

"Hello, Mick?" Aha! She had me programmed in her phone.

"Sure is, how's your night?" I asked.

"Very quiet, about to watch some TV. What are you up to?" I hoped she was fishing for my company.

"I was in the neighborhood (I lied) and wondered if you wanted some Ice Cream? I could bring it over and not disturb your TV show"

"I'm replaying a show I missed Sunday evening…..I can wait until you get here, Do you mind Vampires shows?" she asked, wincing that it would be the deal breaker in a new date watching TV with her.

"Mind Vampires…I mean, do I mind Vampire TV shows? Ah, I don't watch much TV, What's this one about?" She had me piqued.

"It's that True Blood, Southern Vampires, is it too girly for you?" her wince continued.

"Southern Vampires….OK, you've got me hooked. Give me about 30 minutes to get the ice cream, OK?" I hung up and vamp sped to the grocer for a pint of Chunky Monkey, a jar of red cherries, Reddy Whip and fudge sauce. Within 38 minutes I was at her door.

"Come on in" she said as she took the brown bag from me and commenced to pull two bowls from the cabinet. I hung my duster on the coat hook near the door.

I stopped her by patting on my belly, "I just worked out and had a massage, and I couldn't eat a thing, its all for you". She looked suspect at me and then scooped out half the pint and made her self a sundae.

"Would you like wine or a drink? I have Scotch, my Dad drinks single malt."

She held up the bottle and I nearly kissed her right there….(how'd you like to take your vampire boyfriend home to Daddy and the two of us can drink scotch together I grinned as I thought about that happening!)

I carried our glasses to the coffee table and she flipped on the show. We settled on the sofa as the credits rolled and the theme tempted me to smile "I wanna do bad things to you", I smirked and joked…"Does he want to do things badly, or you know do bad things?"

Beth looked at me mid bite. Her eyebrows nearly met as she made an odd face….like she wasn't sure if I was making a joke, we made eye contact and she guffawed nearly spitting her mouthful out, at best a bit of melted ice cream slid out the corner of her mouth. I wiped the ice cream away with my thumb; she grinned and licked at the rest before returning her gaze to the TV. I licked my thumb, wishing I could taste the melting cream, forgetting I could taste her. She tastes marvelous.

I sipped at my Scotch as we watched the images of disturbing vampires versus the kind hearted southern gentleman turned against his will while he returned from the Civil War.

I would grin at parts and she would think it was me being a guy, she didn't know I was counting my blessings that I didn't have to live like Bill, resting in the foundation of a home. That I was thrilled to be able to walk for limited amounts of time in the daylight, especially when it meant the prospect of spending that time with Beth. I was really amused by the thought of synthetic blood; I can hear Josef now, "What's worse than non-fat soy vegan blood? True Blood, stake me now!"

The show ended and she clicked off the TV. Both of us sat there like children, each of us had our baths and had been fed. Now it was time to scurry off to bed, I stood up to leave and we made small talk as I pulled on my duster, checking the pocket for my keys.

"I hope you weren't too bored" I guess I hadn't done a good job of letting her know how much I enjoyed seeing her enjoy the ice cream.

"It was relaxing, and if I am ever a vampire, I know I can go to Louisiana and get served in a bar." I raised an eyebrow to mug a funny face to show her I had a sense of humor too.

"I couldn't let you sleep in the foundation of your house alone; I'd want you to have a beautiful coffin. If I was Sookie and you were Bill, I'd find a place for a coffin at my house". She ribbed me back.

I reached out to touch her cheek and drew the back of my fingers up to hair, "That makes me feel truly special. Now I will take my leave, Sookie" I did a pretty poor southern accent as I placed a chaste kiss on her forehead and turned for the door. She pulled close to my chest and hugged me and stepped back to let me out the door.

I waved and grinned as I walked down the hall, Beth stood in the doorway and watched me, once I turned the corner I heard the door shut and lock.

In the parking lot I watched her living room light go out, the bedroom light go on and then go out. I had wanted to leap to the balcony and watch her sleep, but that would be another night.

**Part 5**

Mick's POV

I fished in the back of the closet and withdrew the garment bag, checking the black suit for moth holes and misplaced $20. Bill. As I sat in the bedroom and buffed my dress shoes I recalled my parents on "date night".

As a small child I remember the rigmarole my Father would make out of putting on a suit on the weekend after wearing one all week.. I can remember my Mother dressed with hat and gloves as she floated down the stairs to Father's romantic overtures. They'd go to a supper club while the neighbor stayed with me and they'd return after I was asleep. As I grew up and the Depression hit, they'd still dress up, a little more worn from wear and walk to the park to watch the stars. I'd hear the front door shut and lock on their return, only to hear their laughter and the lock on their bedroom door.

Thru their marriage they carved special time together. I was sorry their lessons in love were wasted on my marriage. Let's see if I can recall their romance and do better this time.

I checked myself at the mirror and loped to the elevator in expectation of seeing Beth.

I knocked to hear "Just a minute" and heard the breathless tone thru the door. She swung open the door and smiled like she meant it. She stood in her stocking feet, a deep pink painted on her toes. I eyed from the toes up as she stood. Graceful legs supported her smooth curves. The black velvet hem skimmed her knees and as I was beginning to admire how the neckline flattered her face she spun around to retrieve her peep toe shoes and shawl. She hesitated and turned, "Top up or down?" and it startled me from my stare.

Of course I wouldn't mind her top down…but the Mercedes top was up. "Ah, no, not unless you want it down"

I watched her grab the scarf off the hall tree and I helped her with her coat. She wrinkled her nose and smiled, "Would you mind the top down? I love a convertible".

She walked thru her routine of timers and locks and we left. We made small talk on the ride, how school was, how she was counting on spring break to get a new attitude, that she was thinking of moving to a smaller apartment but it was such a short drive to work that she had second thoughts. Sounded like she was on a budget. She talked about the cost of fuel and food and I could commiserate over the fuel, the food I wasn't too knowledgeable about. Perhaps I should read the inserts this Sunday.

Of course I can only imagine what Josef pays for Freshies or the expense to feed and care for the rotation of women he maintains. I'd best grit my teeth and grin when I got my first bill.

We arrived well before curtain as a group of well-heeled music patrons exited a side ball room, special programs in hand, floating on a cloud of caviar and champagne. "Looks like we missed a good party" I quipped.

"I've always wondered what went on in those pre-show receptions" She made it sound like they might be reenacting scenes from "Eyes Wide Shut" and it made me smile.

"Free drinks and the chance to press the flesh that holds the baton I suppose", I surmised. Beth stood almost on tiptoe to see into the room. It did smell tasty, besides the scents of the chafing dish fuel and all the different perfumes of the guests.

There were a few patrons finishing their beef en brochette, crab cakes and bottomless wine glasses. Beth inched closer to the door with that Nancy Drew girl detective look on her face. "Do you think they'd bounce us out if we made a quick once around the room?"

"I can see the headlines, Educator and Date evicted from Symphony Reception, film at 11". I gave her my crooked smile and followed her. Once inside the gold swathed room she sighed at the twinkling lights and grand table arrangements. There at a round table sat Josef holding court with Simone at his right side. He joked with the folks as he spun his glass in his hand. He saw us and popped up and grinned at me.

"Mick, you can lead a dude to culture, but you can't make him think, what are you doing here?" Josef rose as we approached the table. My hand went to the small of Beth's back and she returned the touch with a smile.

"I'm about to enjoy the symphony with my friend, Beth. Beth this is my friend, Josef Kostan and his friend, Simone Walker. Josef, Simone, this is Beth Turner."

Josef and I weren't the only vamps there….however I was sure the four of us were the only mixed couples there. Josef's hand flew to Beth hand as he raised her fingertips to his lips. Simone rolled her eyes as she grinned, "Mick, Hello, Beth, nice to meet you" Simone was used to Josef's old world ways coming out to play.

"Beth, you must have made an impression on Mickey, his Saturday night highlight is usually 5 miles after an hour on the heavy bag." Now I rolled my eyes and Beth grinned at him. The room was still emptying when Josef haled the server and ordered another round of drinks and whatever Beth wanted to knosh on.

"Don't worry about being bounced out, Beth, it's still 30 or so minutes before curtain time." She sat more easily now as the four of us began a cocktail hour conversation appropriate for 3 old friends and 1 not privy to their secrets. It was all non-vamp, no freezers or feeding stories.

As we were about to leave for our seats, Simone spoke up, "Josef, we have those spare 2 tickets for the box, how about we ask Mick and Beth to join us?" Josef nodded and it was a done deal, we were double dating with Josef and Simone. I couldn't wait for Josef's comments tomorrow night.

Beth's expression was sheer amazement as we followed Josef and Simone, wrapped in each other's arms to the box. Beth whispered, "Is this THE Josef Kostan?" I nodded and she giggled, "Mickey, he called you Mickey".

"Josef and I go way back, he can call me Daphne if he wants to, I just might not answer as loudly as when he calls me Mick or Mickey" I confided. This was going to be a big night; I could feel that Beth was excited by meeting Josef and Simone, her view from the box and the emotions of the music.

Beth sat to my left, as I watched the conductor I had her in my line of sight all night. As the house lights dimmed her eyes became more alive, her skin prickled up at the sounds of the instruments being put into playing position. I watched as her shoulders danced in time with the orchestra, her breathing in tempo. Watching the performance through her eyes softened any of the world's edge.

At Intermission Josef flashed his eyes at me and pulled Simone off for a walk, leaving us alone at the lobby bar. I brought her a wine and asked "How are you enjoying the evening?" Beth's eyes were following the crowd, seeking out the who's who of the arts scene.

"I thought it would be nice to have someone to share the music with, I had no idea the night would turn out like this!" Trust me, I knew how she felt. "You may have to remind me to breath, this is all so heady".

"I'm not certified in CPR, so, please remember to inhale and exhale, if it gets around that dates expire on me it will be years before I get another date" She smiled, perhaps that my sense of humor was getting easier for her to peg.

Josef and Simone were seated in the box when we returned, Josef's expression confirming my assumption of their sliding away for his snack. Simone was smiling quietly and gently playing with the wide bracelet she wore to cover her wrist.

The movements see to end quickly and a stream of applause was punctuated by a deep scream and thud of a heavy weight behind the stage curtains. The exuberant crowd's applause stilled as they murmured their queries. The light stayed down and a disembodied voice announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, due to technical difficulties the remaining portions of tonight's performance will be cancelled. Thank-you for your patronage and please drive home safely."

The crowd sat still, and then began gathering themselves to leave. Josef and I exchanged looks and his phone signaled a text message had arrived. Once he read it he stood and pulled me up. "Ladies, I have a car to take you both to my home for dessert and drinks, Mick and I will join you shortly".

Simone raised an eyebrow and said "Beth, you are in for a treat, you have NOT had dessert until you've been to Josef's." Beth looked to me and gave a little wave and a smile. I stepped to her for a little hug and kiss, and then followed Josef backstage. The body lay under a catwalk, which was still swinging from the force of the altercation.

"Mr. Kostan, we called you first, it's the Stage Director. He left his position about 10 minutes before the sound of the fall. When his headset went mute I went looking for him, I found him from the sound".

"Call 911, get the backstage closed off and keep it quiet. No reporters, hear me?" Josef was emphatic about the last point. Then he turned to me, "Isn't it wonderful to know this is just a case of man's inhumanity to man?"

I was hoping this was our pass to leave, no such luck. Josef needed to show the local constabulary his complete cooperation and as the ranking board member of the Symphony present he took it seriously.

"Simone will keep our secrets and the Freshies are out of the house until tomorrow evening. The girls can eat chocolate and make margaritas till sunrise, right?"

So there I was waiting for Lt Davis or his cohorts to roll in and see me at another incident.

We wrapped up about 1 am and confirmed with Josef's house staff the ladies had been making frozen foo-foo drinks and eating some of every dessert in the kitchen. They had pecked their way through Cheesecakes, flourless chocolate tortes, crème Brule and Italian ices. We rode back in my Mercedes, thinking we'd join them for a nightcap before I returned Beth to her apartment.

Simone met us at the door, "I think Beth is a bit of a lightweight. She started strong and about a half hour ago she excused herself and came back a little green and then lay on the sofa. She's asleep in the other room." Josef had that bad boy smile as I silently flew to her side.

There was Beth sleeping on the sofa, where I had fed the other day, on the cushions Lorena had placed on the floor so I could lay naked for my massage. She had washed her face after "praying to the porcelain god"; it had smudged her eye makeup making her eyes smoky and sultry.

Beth was facing the back of the deep sofa, covered with a throw. I wanted to lay behind her and wrap my arms around her and breathe her in. I wanted to spoon against her and feel her pressed against my front. Either of those choices might scare her or give her the wrong idea, so I moved the coffee table aside and pushed the second sofa closer. I gathered one of the big pillows and reclined to watch her sleep. It was too soon to sleep with her, yet I could thrill in watching her sleep.

Mick's POV:

I did close my eyes, just listening to the beat of her heart, the ebb and flow of the air through her open mouth, as she slept still. I knew she'd be asleep awhile and I poured myself a scotch and thought about the night. In the past 12 hours she learned a bit more about me while I learned she had an inquiring personality. I wondered exactly how many frozen margaritas they had mixed, from the looks of the bar area they had gone through a few pints of strawberries and a lot of tequila. I figured she'd need plenty of tea and sympathy when she rousted from the sofa in the morning.

I drew the sheers to dull the sun's brash light and hovered as Beth appeared to start stirring, first her legs seemed to stretch and then her hands rubbed her eyes. An unsavory moan escaped her lips as she realized she was grinding her eye makeup into her eyes. I watched as she steadied herself and began to rise, eyes half open, "Do not look at me, please" she put a hand out to stop me from coming closer, even though I was sitting opposite her on the other sofa.

"Why, have you taken a Medusa drug? Should I run?" I spoke softly, half laughing.

"I think I saw Medusa in the bottom of the last drink…." She lowered herself back down and threw her forearm over he eyes.

"How many did you have?" I had to ask…

"I don't know, we were soaking our feet in the pool, we were listening to music, someone just kept bringing them and I couldn't taste any of the alcohol." She was speaking very slowly….definitely hung over.

I looked at the Cabo Wabo bottle and figured she didn't, it just went down really smooth.

"Where am I?" she whispered as she sat up and put her feet on the floor. She sat forward, holding her head in her hands.

"We are at Josef's, you slept pretty well, I slept on this sofa," I pointed to my sofa, "you were a perfect lady and stayed on your sofa, my virtue is intact." I made the Boy Scout hand signal, two fingers up, two down tucked under my thumb and she shook her head as I joked about her being a lady.

"Oh my god, no, not at Mr. Kostan's home…now I am mortified. Please, is there a back way out of here?" She was completely embarrassed.

"I've stumbled home with Josef plenty, he's not bothered" I thought to myself, if you knew what's happened on that sofa alone you'd be a whole lot less ashamed….. A little shame in this house was probably a new idea.

"This is not the way I wanted our date to end, I look like hell's half acre, you'll never want to see me again I'm such a lush"

"So how did you want our date to end?" I sat back and waited….hoping.

"Well, I can barely form sentences…..how can I explain it?" She laid her head on the back of the sofa, staring up at the painted ceiling

"I wanted to be awake for the end of it…that would have been nice. I wanted to have a goodnight kiss to remember…now all you'll remember is my nasty makeup and how bad I look in the morning. AND THAT'S the worst part…you've seen me wake up like a wreck and we didn't even have a night together. Or did we?" She shot me a look and as she laid out all her fears.

"I can assure you, we didn't have a night together if you mean hanky panky, Simone was the one to cover you and I was never closer than I am right now, and when I take you back to your apartment, I'll still want to give you a good-bye kiss, maybe even 3 or 4" I wanted her kisses right now, even with the smeared makeup.

There was a knock at the door, Simone was making her rounds. "Beth, are you ok, may I come in?"

"Sure, Simone, I'm alive"

Simone had slept well and was already showered and in a velour lounge set, fresh faced. "We've got breakfast and coffee in the other room, and if you want I have a bathroom available if you'd like to freshen up."

"Coffee? Oh, please any Motrin, aspirin?" Beth begged.

"Hair of the dog that bit you?" Simone smiled as she lifted the Cabo Wabo bottle.

"Not just a no, but Hell no" Beth shook her pained head as she rose off the sofa and took a few steps. "Mick, if I fall, can you catch me?" she half giggled as she wobbled along.

I poured coffee and made a plate of cinnamon toast and fruit while she washed her face and combed her hair. When she returned to me I reached out for a hug, she melted into me and apologized again. "No, no, don't apologize, I'm not wronged here….you may be apologizing to your head all day." I sat down with her in the breakfast room while she ate small bites and sipped her coffee.

The Tiffany glass wall selectively allowed light into the area casting a violet blue rays across the room. The house was uncharacteristically quiet with just the 3 of us and Josef's cook.

"Aren't you eating" she asked, by now wolfing down cut fresh fruit and her 3rd cup of coffee, Beth was rising out of the ashes pretty well.

"Simone and I ate earlier" I offered, and Simone nodded as she made herself a coffee and joined us for some quiet morning conversation.

About noon we were in the car and on the road. This time the top was up and she borrowed a pair of sunglasses from my glove box. She was 1 genuinely hurting puppy. "I didn't get to say good bye to Mr. Kostan, I do feel bad accepting his hospitality and then leaving like this"

"He'll understand, he had already left for his office" I didn't think she was ready to find out her host had retired to his freezer for the day.

"So, what will you do the rest of the day?" she asked from the half reclined passenger seat.

"I like to pick up a couple of Sunday papers, listen to some music while I read" That was the way I used to spend Sundays when I was human, "What do you do on Sundays when your head hasn't been removed from your shoulders?"

"I do love the Sunday paper, read the sales, play some music, and take a bike ride. BUT NOT today, no sunshine for me at ALL, maybe I should consider being a creature of the night…." She mused.

"After you get a couple hours rest, did you want to come over to my place?" I hoped.

"Aren't you afraid I'll drain your liquor cabinet and eat all your sweets?" she was getting her sense of humor back.

"You assume I have liquor and sweets" I chuckled. "Remember, I am a bachelor and we are notoriously bad at having anything in our kitchens" that should cover any discussion about my bare kitchen.

"When would you be ready for a guest?" she asked.

"How is 4pm?" I figured she had school tomorrow and that would give me a couple hours to vedge in the freezer.

I parked and walked up to her door. She unlocked the door and stood in the doorway, "Right up until I threw up I had a really great time. I hope I didn't make too bad an impression with your friends. Did you want to come in for minute?" she stepped into the foyer and I followed. This area had so many un-memories. I had fantasies of saying so many things right here…that I hadn't really said. I leaned on the island in the kitchen to write my address on a business card and assured her no harm no foul.

"Here's my address, and I'll expect you around 4pm, there's an available parking space next to my car so drive into the garage, OK?" I stepped back to the door and she followed me, we stepped into each other and wrapped our arms around each other. For seconds we held each other, and then as I pulled back she raised her face to me and we brushed lips lightly. This time she stood against me and I felt her body from lips to knees. I was embarrassed by the twitching in my groin, thinking she'd feel my impulses and draw away. That's when she pulled tighter and kissed me harder, a sliver of her tongue finding my lips. My lips parted and I spoke, "You are not playing fair. I'll never leave" and she pressed against me the more I stepped back from her.

If she didn't stop we were going to be against the door and I'd never be able to get out.

She whispered, as her hands circled my neck and her fingers played into my hair, "I didn't ask you to leave".

This series continues with _**Love Shared**_


	4. Chapter 4 LOVE SHARED

**LOVE SHARED **

sequel to LOVE DISCOVERED

Rated: NC-17  
Categories: Alternate Universe Characters: Beth, Josef, Mick, Original  
Challenges:  
Series: None  
Chapters: 6 Completed: Yes  
Word count: 13776

Published: August 10, 2009

* * *

**Love Shared, Part 1**

Mick's POV:  
With those words her arms dove undermine and clasped around my waist. Beth pressed the side of her face to my chest and instinctively my arms encompassed her shoulders. We stood silent and I listened for clues. Both our pheromones were pumping.

This was crazy, not that it wasn't enjoyable, it even felt genuine. I immediately thought about then I had last fed, about 6am I had a large tumbler of Josef's private bottled stock, I was confident of my control. I hadn't gone off on a Freshie since returning to live feeding. Now I was here with a human woman pushing all my buttons and I was O.K., better than OK.

_"I meant, ah, you're welcome to have a drink or coffee if you'd like. I don't mean to run you off"_Beth stepped away and my body ached for her warmth to return.

Did she think herself too forward? I tried to recall how long she had been celibate; I still had her beat in that category. Was I her type?

She stood back smiling and pushing her hair behind her ears and moved toward her fridge.

_"Well it's a little early for a drink for me and I was thinking I'd let you recover from your night. I need to pick up a few things, I don't want to look like a bad host"_I was backing to reach for the door.

_"You're right, it will be 4 before we know it I'll let you get down the road. I guess one of the effects of alcohol is time is pretty meaningless"_She was shrugging and smiling, she is really cute.

I held out my arms, _"How about a kiss for the road?"_Beth collided with me and our open lips fused. I felt a spark when our tongues touched briefly and I saw her grin. We parted smiling brightly. She watched me walk down the hall, when I turned the corner I heard her sigh then close and lock the front door.

As I drove I ran thru the list of things humans would keep. When had I last been in a human kitchen? 1952. I recalled scenes from movies and TV. A girl likes sweets, fruity juices, fresh fruit and the obligatory chocolate, right? I stopped at the super mart and grabbed a cart. Speeding to the deli I picked up salami and provolone for an antipasto, bread sticks and some soft cheese, I found fresh pineapple and strawberries. It looked like I was feeding the Freshies…I just had not a clue. I needed dish soap and napkins, candles and hand soap for the bathroom. Then in the health and beauty aisle I had an epiphany. _What if tonight went horizontal?__  
_  
I did my best invisible saunter to "the" aisle after pushing thru deodorant, toothpaste, razors, rather than asking where condoms were. No way, I thought as I stood back and looked at the multitude of sizes, styles, colors then choices of spermicidal or plain, latex or lambskin. Whatever happened to the 1 type the army gave out?

What I hoped to be a grab and dash ended up being a sex ed class when two high school kids walked in front of me, casually made wisecracks and took their choices within seconds. Would I look careless when I didn't get the spermicidal type, she doesn't know I'm _sans swimmers…..._When did it get this hard? I grabbed the variety 12 pack the kids bought and flew to the checkout line. There I was while the girl chewed gum, scanning the items, eyeing each item as if she knew where my night was going, if only I did.

I flew home and made up the antipasto tray, covering it with that nasty plastic wrap that fought back. I stuck it in the fridge and hit the freezer. The lid came down and I was out.

3pm I rose, showered and dressed. Pacing the apartment I re-arranged the candles a few times, lit the fire place, extinguished the fireplace and then relit it. I loaded the iPod and played with the volume. I put the white wine in the cooler, left the red wine on the counter. I dirtied a small plate with food and put the plate on the coffee table as if I couldn't wait to eat. Rather be rude than appear to NOT eat my own food.

Please open a second window in YouTube and enjoy the song with the story….. Al Stewart - Year of the cat  
**http:/ www . youtube. com / watch?v=QM7LR46zrQU**

I stretched out on the sofa and waited. It was 4:05 when the elevator dinged. I scented a rested and refreshed Beth outside my door. I watched the bounce in her step on the monitor, it decried her pitiful morning. _She heals fast.__  
_  
I sprung the door and she glided in giving a hug while she held her purse and a bottle of Malbec, she likes red wine.

_"I sure hope I wasn't a handful this morning"_she held out the bottle of wine and I accepted it.

_"We've all been there once, don't worry about it"_I said as I motioned her to follow me to the kitchen.

Her eyes scanned the first floor while we decided on wine and I poured our glasses. _"This is a beautiful home, did you do all this design yourself?"_she picked at the appetizers and held up an olive to me. I shook my head no and carried our wine glasses to the coffee table. She saw my plate on the table and fixed her heaping servings. I clicked up the music a notch and sipped my wine while she ate.

I can't recall who started the conversation first, soon we were hip deep in how great the olives were, she liked the grille over my windows, wanted to know about the paintings in the outside hall and on and on. She likes my fridge and my bookcase. She had a way of talking that spilled so much and I did use my PI skills to find a bit more about her education and travels.

Beth's Dad is almost retired up the coast; her Mom has been a housewife and helped with the contracting company. She graduated with a double major of Communication and Elementary Education and thought about Law until Anthony put the screws to her to teach so they could travel summers. She booted Anthony when he began to want her on a timetable for her retirement and kids. She said she's 27 and not maternal….doesn't know when and if it may hit.

It felt good to talk in a private place, without the murmur of other heartbeats and life noises. As the sun began to set I asked, _"Want to see the best sunset in the city?" _She nodded yes and I grabbed her hand and almost flew up the steps to the roof.

The broad flat roof was another world. As sheltered as my apartment is, this was open and breezy. The golden hour cast a glow on our flesh, likewise illuminating the cold stone buildings. Her eyes sparkled as she stepped around the walls and viewed the city from every angle.

I waited for her on the western side, leaning on my elbows. Beth came up behind me and hooked her thumb into the back center belt loop of my pants as she leaned along side of me. We watched the sun melt into the horizon and smiled as the glow gripped the buildings it hid behind.

I listened to her heart calm as she relaxed with the lengthening shadows. I realized her gaze moved from the horizon to me and I flipped around with my back to the sun, arms crossed over my chest.

_"You know the day you called, the first time, looking for the other Beth Turner?"_

_"I do remember it well_" I nodded.

_"That day I had come home from school, the class had been all sugared up from a Leap Year party; I was at my wit's end. You called and I felt like I snapped. I am sorry. I hope you didn't take it personally_" she was making a guilty face that turned into a smile.

_"You were nicer when I called back_" I shrugged, hoping to give her a bit of absolution.

_"You have a great voice, I was trying to imagine what you looked like"_ she reached out to touch my forearm and I covered her hand with mine. "_For some reason I thought your call was fate. Then when the news reported your name I knew it had to be you and I had to call. I felt like it was destiny that we met."_

I found this startling and was drawn to her honesty. _"I kind of thought the same thing. I was really glad when you didn't hang up the second time_" I confessed.

Well this was progressing rather well…. I couldn't have hoped for more from a wrong number.

I excused myself to carry the chaise from the "Bedroom" up to the roof for us to watch the moon rise. Beth carried the bottle of wine and the glasses up and we sat back to watch the airplanes and clouds float past us. There were moments when neither of us said anything, and then we'd each open our mouths at the same time only to laugh.

_"Do you like being a private investigator?"_she asked, running her finger around the rim of her wine glass.

_"Pretty much, it's never boring, I get to meet a lot of interesting people_" and I raised my eyebrows and pointed to her with my best crooked grin. "_How about you, do you like teaching?"__  
_  
Beth looked up to the sky and escaped my gaze. _"It's good for now. I agreed to teach for a couple of years and I'm going to be done at the end of the school year. I can stay on, so it is there for me. The kids and the parents deserve better, though".__"So what would you do? Go to Law School?"_Now that her ex-fiancé was out of the picture it was her choice.

_"No, you're going to laugh….. one of the reasons I thought your call was fate was because I've been doing some writing and when you asked me something about being on a website I thought you were my conscious telling me to knuckle down and get published. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing?"_She pulled the throw up from around her ankles to her waist.

_"Are you chilly?"_ I could lay out here just fine…."_Did you want to go in?"_I was ready to carry her to warmth if she asked.

_"Come closer, I kind of like being close to you"_she asked holding up the cover for me to join her.

_"So, Miss Turner, is tonight's lesson about the 18th and 19th century practice of "bundling"?_I was happy to insinuate myself closer to her, wrapping an arm around her and cradling her head under my chin. She warmed me and I caused her to shiver for a second until I caught her warmth.

_"You're an ice cube. Do you have low blood pressure?"_ she laughed and I nodded. "_Let me warm you up_" she said as she put one arm around my back and one around my front, she played with the pattern on my shirt and my skin wanted to dance under her fingertips.

As I lay alongside her I repeatedly inhaled her scent, I began to be dizzy with the aroma of her arousal from us being wrapped up in each other. She nuzzled my chest and pressed herself against me. I raised her chin to kiss her lips and the feeling ran thru to my toes. We pressed open lips over and over, until I had to gently catch her lip with just my teeth so softly. She moaned and rolled over me. Whenever our flesh touched we stopped kissing and sighed together.

The seam of her trousers ran over the seam of my fly and created the finest friction, causing me to stir with a growing throb. Once she began riding me clothed she drew deeper breaths and pulled back from our kisses, arched her back releasing a deep breath loudly to the sky.

_"Beth, I can't do this…unless I know you want to…I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. Understand?"_I knew where this was going, just had no idea it would be this fast.

_"I do not know what is getting into me, you turn me on so much, I want to be next to you, on top of you, under you, Oh Mick, and I want you so bad. You know what I mean?"_she laid her forehead on mine and stared into my eyes.

_"I think I feel the same way, I just don't want to push you into anything too soon. We're moving pretty fast."_My voice was just a whisper in her ear, by now her center's warmth was creating an unmanageable fury in my erection. I had to close my eyes for fear I'd begin to ice over.

I thought about my being in the 9th inning, tied score, 2 outs and 2 on base and I'm up to bat. _Swing like you mean it when the pitch is right, Mickey, only then._

Beth was breathless as she sat up, clutching her breasts through her blouse as if they were tingling,_ "I've never felt like this, like I know you'll treat me beautifully, like I'm special to you, like I've known you for years".__  
_  
I sat up with her and maneuvered her into my lap and my arms, _"How did you know that's what I wanted to show you?_" and with that I picked her up and we returned to the warmth of the second floor.

I backed into the bedroom and we fell on the bed together, still in the discovery stage of touching through clothing, belt buckles banging against each other. Tasting kisses and nipping at tongues and earlobes, the sloppy joy of tasting each other through the wine on our lips. She straddled me and we began unbuckling each other's belt. She bit her bottom lip as she strained to move the leather from under me, so I arched my back to allow the belt to move through the loops.

The pressure of my hard fly pushed into her and she purred, rolling off me to begin working our pants off. My distinct advantage was my night eyesight. Her skin glowed and had the most inviting scent. It wasn't just the honey musk scent traveling from her blond thatch of curls; it was her golden head of hair that brushed over me and rosy tinted lips that had traveled over my ears and face and eyelids. I was prepared to touch each inch of her with slow patient kisses, if I could only keep myself from coming at her touch.

Lying naked on the bed, face to face we pulled to each other, trying to cover each other with our bodies, feeling where we fit together like two halves of a whole being. Feeling her inner softness touch my growing hardness, having her warm soft breasts skim my cooler chest all of it was heaven. Before we went further I held her still, broaching the subject_…."Let me get a condom, OK_?" I released her and rolled over to the nightstand, my back to her. She immediately pressed her breasts up to my back and reached around my front to stroke my erection from root to tip while she sighed.

She reached for the condom and asked, "_May I?"_I had no idea what to expect….it didn't happen like this in WWII. I gave Beth the lead, she opened the package, took the condom in her mouth and I just about lost it when she rolled me on my back and gently placed the condom on me, rolling it down with her lips. She was handling all of this a lot better than I was….each new sensation just about took me out.

Her brand of sexuality was fresh and without motive, totally intrigued with my body, getting off on each step of the dance. Then I had the urge to hold her under me, and it was my turn to ask, "_May I?"_as I flipped her over – she giggled at the ease that we moved and she lay back, spreading her legs as she drew her knees up to invite me in.

I watched her hands grasp the sheets while I approached her, first kissing her breasts and stroking her soft, smooth belly. All femininity and pinkness she lay under me whispering her invitations for my entry. I felt her grasp me through the condom and thanked God for the barrier that kept me from coming in her hands.

I pulled down to deliver kisses down from her navel to the tops of her thighs, her vitality sang out to me as I lowered my lips on her wet folds of skin. My tongue sought her clit and I danced my mouth over her listening to her moans turn into almost animal sounds. She pulled at my shoulders and I looked into her eyes. _"There's only one first time, Beth, are we ready?"__"Oh, God, Mick, yes… yes… I am, do you want me?"_She was already perspiring on her top lip and little beads on the bridge of her nose, it was so cute. How can a woman be cute AND sexy like this?

_"Beth, I want you more than I've ever wanted any woman"_ I licked at her flavor on my lips and began our first strokes slowly. She responded with wrapping her legs around me and meeting me with every thrust. I closed my eyes and mouth to avoid any inadvertent "_disclosures_". We were enjoying the rhythm when I felt her flutter close around me, I shuddered and we quivered together for what seemed like an eon.

After we brought each other through the hot white lights I held her, brushing away her wet hair away from her face, both of us damp from the perspiration we had generated. I excused myself to toss the condom and bring her a towel; she was a goddess on the golden sheets, her hair splayed out on the pillows, laying half on her side, her back still arched from her orgasm, toes curled with a supreme smile on her face as she traveled in the arms of Morpheus.

I knew I couldn't leave her tonight, just as I hadn't been able to leave her last night. If Greek Mythology is correct and Morpheus sends images of humans in dreams or visions, his being responsible for shaping dreams I was praying that Morpheus would whisper loving and gentle dreams into Beth's mind and her heart would know it had found it's home in my undead heart.

It would be my job to explain the undead part.

_**Well morning comes and you're still with her and the bus and the tourists are gone**__**  
**__**And you've thrown away your choice and lost your ticket**__**  
**__**So you have to stay on but the drum-beat strains of the night remain**__**  
**__**In the rhythm of the new-born day you know sometime you're bound to lose her**__**  
**__**but for now you're going to stay in the year of the cat. **_

**Part 2**

****Mick's POV:

I had to have exhausted Beth; she didn't stir when I came back to bed. It was still early for the night however we had had a few glasses of wine and then released all the tensions that had been holding us upright. I feel like I'm floating, while I lay here and watch the rise and fall of her breasts under the sheet. Her hair is like a golden aura on the pillow, I move closer to enjoy every scent on her body right down to her shampoo. I'm afraid to touch her, that I'll break the spell between us.

I gently lift off the bed and jump to the kitchen; close things up before the food goes bad, lock the door and turn off the lights. I'm about to run back upstairs and the king of bad timing…..Josef appears at the door.

_"Mick, I know you're there, this is important, come on, man. I have my key, so open up Ok?" _Josef was quiet and insistent.

_"Hold on,"_I barked as I grabbed the apron and tied it around my waist, at least I was covered. I left Josef in and backed to the island and leaned against it. Damn, it was cold on my ass.

_"Excellent are you adding catering to your business card now? I heard of the naked chef I just thought it was a gimmick"_ Josef quipped as he walked in, looking around the room catching a whiff of the food, the wine, the woman. _"I guess the food was the ruse, am I interrupting anything?" _he seemed to leer for details.

_"Josef, please go on, I'd like to get back to bed"_I nodded toward the upstairs and put a finger over my lips to shush him.

_"I bet you would…..well, the stage director, the one that took a header off the catwalk, Guillermo said he had human DNA evidence and defensive wounds all over him. Did you want to step in and help or are we leaving it to the keystone cops?"_

_"Why would we get involved? Human crimes we let them handle, Lt. Davis isn't one of the Three Stooges, and he can handle it." _Why, Josef, why? I thought.

_"Because it's Simone's brother's father in law. I didn't make the connection; she didn't even know it until the papers named him this morning. She knows we were first on the scene, she knows you have a nose for this sort of thing,"_Josef had his arms folded over his calfskin bomber jacket and that lost little boy look he can pull out of his back pocket when it suits him.

_"So, when did you need me, Josef, can you wait until Monday afternoon?" _I tilted my head upstairs and pointed to Beth's purse on the coffee table hoping he'd understand.

_"Sure, Casanova, it's Sunday evening, nothing gets done on Sunday evenings. Oh, I forgot, isn't this the night you organize you Henleys? Can't be too organized in the wardrobe department now that you're seeing someone"_ He made that goofy snarky grin, with his hands on his hips. "_Oh, by the way, I promised you that invoice and here's the first two weeks"_ he handed me an itemized list printed on 8.5 x 11 white paper, I folded it in half and placed it on the island behind me. _"Mick, your terms are net 30, OK?"_

_"So, Josef, I'm sorry you can't stay, have a safe ride home. Driving the Ferrari tonight? You look a little casual" _I shot back with the chopped sentences and rapid fire questions to run his ass out of the loft. It worked as I herded him toward the door and out.  
_  
__"Give my best to Beth, Oh I think you already gave her your best….bye, Mick"_He trailed off down the hallway. I closed the door, locked it and turned on the password protection feature. I slid the invoice for my "food" under the blotter in my office and carried a carafe of ice water and cup to the bedroom.

Beth was sleeping with her arms wrapped around the pillow I had laid on; she had a little snore going with her parted lips. Lying on her left side she had her right knee pulled up almost to her elbow, and humans think lying in a freezer looks uncomfortable? I put the carafe on the night stand and slid into bed behind her, cupping her right buttock while I kissed her shoulder, once, twice, a third time and then nuzzled into the tangle of hair at her neck.

The Vampire Nation would prefer we don't have the talk, they prefer we dine and dash. They practically accuse Josef of running a social service organization with his stable of organized labor. I knew I needed to have "_the talk". _I knew tonight was not the night, she had school tomorrow and I was looking for a gentle way to wake her….not that I wanted her to leave.

The longer I spooned behind her the more she moved back to me, smiling in her sleep until her eyes half opened, _"Mick? Mick, what time is it?" _her voice was soft and I liked hearing her say my name.  
_  
__"It's early, only about 11."_ I wrapped my arms around her as she rolled closer. Brushing the hair out of her eyes I kissed her forehead and smiled, letting silence work for me. "_What time do you have to leave to get to school?" _did that tell her I didn't want her to leave?

She had a sleepy smile on her face as she ran her hand thru my hair and tucked herself under my chin. _"I need at least 2 hours to get home, get ready and get to school, what did you have in mind?"_Beth has a devilish giggle when she buries her head in my chest, it tickles.

As she had woken slowly I found our gentle dance of holding and stroking each other's face and shoulders accelerating to reciprocating touches and escalating kisses. We exchanges grins and sighs as her heart rate increased.

Maybe this was the time to talk. My fears of losing her were growing with each touch. What if we kept this up for weeks or a few months and I broke my news to her…..it would look like I didn't trust her. So what if I tell her now and she's scared and runs and something drastic happens. I don't handle drastic well with a woman. _"Beth, before we do anything else, I need to share some things with you, OK?"__"OK, did you want me to get dressed? Should we turn on the lights?" _Her radar was spinning and I wanted to dial it down.

_"No, you may want to sit up, just so we can see and hear each other clearly"_I puffed the pillows and slid them behind her back as she skid up, sheet and coverlet up over her breasts. I slid out of bed and slipped on my pajama pants, then lit the triple wick candle for her benefit.

_"I wasn't completely honest with you and I want to come clean so you can decide if you want to see me again"_I sat at the end of the bed to give some space.

_"Mick, did I do something?"_she was poised and concerned.

_"Beth, you did. You made me want to tell you the truth about me. I am so enamored with you, I never want to disappoint you and misrepresent myself."_I'm sure at this point she was imagining that I was married with 4 kids. I had a serious expression and she was beginning to adopt mine.

_"We, ah, we have stepped into things feeling pretty strong for such a short time, I hope I haven't pressured you. I realize I was a little forward, I had the strongest feelings from the day I met you"_she was slow and deliberate in her delivery.

_"I'm going to ask you to listen to everything I have to say, and if you have any questions I'm going to ask you to let me finish first, OK?" _I was almost choking on my words, my throat was dry.  
_  
__"OK, yeah, OK I can do that and if I start to say anything just remind me I promised"_she was nodding actively.

_"And the last thing before I start, this is not a joke or a prank. Everything I am going to say is the truth"_She kept nodding at my words and I figured it was time to start.

_"You asked me about past relationships and I wasn't honest. I fell in love with a beautiful woman and I was married once. I carried her over the threshold of the hotel and we went to bed. The next day I woke up and everything I thought I gained had been taken from me."_She sat there nodding while I was about to rip the Band-Aid off our new reality.

_"Before the wedding it didn't dawn on me that we only went out at night or that she never ate. I never gave a moment's notice to how strong she was or that she always looked perfect. She had no family, and while the rest of my friends were married and having children, none of her friends were married, nor did they have children."_ I silently stared for a minute. _"Do you have any idea what had happened, Beth?"_

Her eyes rolled and she shrugged, _"It sounds like something out of the Twilight Zone, it must have been horrible, but I don't understand what she has to do with us. I mean you're being married before just means you didn't quite tell me the truth when we were talking about marriage, I've been lied to about bigger things, was that it?" _She seemed pretty resilient, was she ready for the truth?

_"Those were the details in a concise way. The rest may try your sense of fiction or fantasy."_I stopped for a moment for her to swallow that.

_"Are you trying to tell me some fantastic story, Mick? I don't get it"_she shook her head and shrugged again. The nervous habit of pushing her hair behind her ears showed up then she stared at me.

_"Beth, the other night we joked about vampires. They are no joke."_ Her head shook as her eyebrows knitted together, her folded hands went to her face to cover her mouth. _"Beth, on my wedding night my wife drained almost all of my blood, fed me hers and turned me to a Vampire." _She was silent, eyes wide open.

_"Like Bill Compton….you were turned against your will"_ she whispered breathlessly. "_How can that be, vampires aren't real?" _She hugged her knees and peered at me over the tops of forearms.

_"How come you aren't laughing or running or screaming?" _I asked her.

_"You told me it wasn't a prank or a joke. You'd have to be one sick bastard to tell me all this and have it be a joke, especially after asking me to wait to ask questions."_

_"So you'd rather be in a vampire's bedroom than a sick bastard's bedroom?"_I asked, incredulous.

_"This can't be your bedroom, vampires sleep in coffins"_she was confident, after all she watches True Blood. What was I thinking?

_"Real Vampires don't, but that isn't important. What is important is how do you feel about me?"_

_"Are you going to bite me?"_Defensively she drew her wrists around her neck.

_"If I had wanted to, there would be nothing you could do about it."_ I answered bluntly._ "I have limits, I don't hunt"._  
_  
__"How do you justify telling me your secret? Aren't you afraid I'll stake you or something?"_ she ran her hand thru her hair again. "_How do you come into homes without being given permission?"_

_"That's fiction." I replied. "So, how do you feel about me? Do I frighten you?"_I pressed her for the one thing that would destroy us.

_"Only if you raise your voice"_ she was right, I had raised my voice a bit. _"Do you kill people?"_I shook my head.

_"Is it like True Blood, does your blood make humans high?" _she asked  
_  
__"It can make you heal faster, make you very aware of things, just like vamps are. Not high, very aware, sensitive." _Now she's going to ask if my fangs click down like Bill's.

_"You were out in the day time for the school program, how?"_she was ruminating over events where we had been together.

_"I can stay out in some light for a while, but then I have to feed or I get sick and don't heal quickly." I wear a lot of sunscreen"_ I laughed.  
_  
__"So, Mick, why are you telling me all this? Aren't you afraid I tell someone, you aren't exactly covered under discrimination laws?" _Her questions were honest yet she didn't have the flip tone of voice.

_"I felt I could trust you, if you trusted me enough to come to my home and make love with me, I wanted to be honest with you. I am falling in love with you, Beth." _I confessed.

_"Can you fly?"_ she grinned, her blues dancing.  
_  
__"No, and I can't change into things like mice and bats." _I shook my head at the thought.

"_When do you turn into a vampire? DO you just walk around with your fangs out?"_she said it like I walked around with my underwear showing.

_"No, there are 4 instances when my fangs descend."_I replied and she retorted

"_When?"__"You're a little inquisitive while your naked in my bedroom….aren't you?_

_"Yes, tell me so I can be ready, I don't want to be scared….will you change for me now?"_she crawled to the end of the bed holding the sheet to her, as if 1000 thread count fabric had protective powers.

As she sat before me I took her hand, "_Do you trust me?"_I asked and she nodded. I dropped my head and rose back as the ice-blue eyed predator of legends, fangs fully extended.

She extended her finger and wanted to touch my fangs, I could tell by the look on her face. I drew her index finger across my right fang, piercing her skin, producing a growing bead of blood. It sang to me and I lick my lips in anticipation,_ "May I?"_when she nodded I almost swooned with her taste. I released her hand and she drew her finger to her mouth, tasting my saliva and her blood together. Her smile told me she wouldn't fold or run.

_"So, when do you change, what makes you change?"_she licked at her bottom lip waiting for my answer.

_"It occurs in a few situations, we call them the four F's, Feed, Flight, Fight and ah …_

_**On a morning from a Bogart movie in a country where they turn back time**__**  
**__**You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre contemplating a crime**__**  
**__**She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running like a watercolor in the rain**__**  
**__**Don't bother asking for explanations she'll just tell you that she came in the year of the cat.**_

**Part 3**

****Mick's POV:

I knew that Fornication was far too clinical and the four F's always bring an abrupt end with "Fuck" sounding so… _dirty, illicit_... Of course you could call it fornication, then its back to clinical. What we had together was so much more glorious and liberating than a clinical or profane word.

Having Beth drawn to me now, as she watched my change, saw me drink even that infinitesimal drop of her blood, meant I had come out on the other side. The twenty some wasted years hadn't been wasted at all.

We rolled back together while she relieved me of my pajama pants; we were pressed against each other for the first time, really. She knew who I was and I released what had been sheltered from my dinner partners.

I wanted her to submit in anticipation of where we'd go together…..not in my domination. So I silently laid her back and she replied with her eyes and smile. I stroked her instep and held her foot to my lips, gently nipping at the fleshy back of her big toe, my tongue darted over her ankle as my hands traveled her calf all golden flesh not too soft, not too muscled.

I heard the path of her blood, and paced myself.

She breathed deeply and smiled, eyes watching my journey to the crook of her thigh, where it hallowed and the pounding of her blood rush drew me to kiss and lick where the flavor of skin changed from leg to inner lips. Moving to the right I sampled the sweet saltiness of thigh's sweat, to the left I grew hard and throbbing with the taste and smell of her arousal. She arched her back to move into my mouth and parted the flesh with her fingers. I answered her request with a wide lick, landing where she directed me then I buried my nose in her and fingered her curls lightly.

_"Do you trust me?" _I asked my head rose from my love's labor.

She nodded until her lips uttered, _"Yes, Mick, I do trust you." _With that granted I returned to my precious task, stroking with a light hand on her thigh while my fingers danced on her glistening labia, my tongue tapping, my lips holding her for a few seconds, catching and releasing until she was moaning disconnected words, my name, wordless sighs.

As I felt the roll of her spasm and knew Beth was nearing her edge I slipped my thumb over her continuing the stroke and slid my mouth into that hollow, taking the flesh between my teeth and issuing her first bite. Her legs shook and I felt them enfold my shoulders, gripping me where I was with my first full taste of her erotic blood.

I held her gift to experience the sweet mouthfeel of her. I sensed the aromatics of her arousal, her delicate balance of hormones and her expectation of our coupling. I withdrew as she continued to shake and pursed my lips to draw in some air expanding her flavor on my tongue. Beth released her leg's grip and I licked the small wounds, sealing them with a kiss. I rose on my knees, throbbing for her, wanting just to enter her and stroke deeply, to bring us around together.

Beth held out her arms, and I fell into them, rolling her over on top of me. _"You've spoiled me, Mick; all I can do is lay here in bed….begging you to do that over and over, oh Mick….will it always be like that?"_

_"Well it can be, unless you're on top, then I guess I'll have to bite your breast or your wrist_" I was thrilled at her use of the word "_always_". While we were grinning at each other, Beth sat up to straddle me, first taking me in her hands. She had my full attention as she coddled and stroked me, then slid back to kiss me. Without the barrier of the condom I thought I was going into shock. Beth's soft lips with her tongue dancing over the head of my erection. I clutched at the sheets for fear I would bruise her with my grip.

Beth's eyes met mine as a long low growl rumbled in my chest, she stopped for a second, replacing her mouth with her wet fingers, "_Am I hurting you?" _all I could do was shake my head vigorously.

_"No, no Beth, not at all, your lips are…a ah...ah heaven, please…go on…don't stop, please?" _It was a new sound to me too. I was used to the predatory growl that emitted when I fought; I had little experience with the variety of sounds I could make in ecstasy. The images of her next actions seared into my heart, she rose over me to ride me and I watched her face as she overtook me.

Beth licked her lips and balanced to begin riding me slowly and deeply. I held out my hands to hers and we clasped fingers, giving her balance to rise and drop, controlling the strokes. Yes, the feelings were incredible; our senses were soaring as we fed off each other's awakening. I felt her tighten to meet my rally and she let go of my hand, turning her wrist to me_….."Tell me, tell me when…..show me". _

I had hoped I wasn't a phase like banging a rock star or running behind a sports hero. I was reticent to bite again, that in full view she'd quake and pull back and that would hurt. _"Are you sure?" _and she nodded. _"If you pull away, if you're frightened it will hurt, if you're aroused it will just feel that much better"._  
_  
__"You mean it could feel better than this?" _as she bent closer to me, pressing harder and slowing to savor the stroke. I closed my eyes and turned, watching for her fear. Beth gave me her sighs of satisfaction and a nod "_whenever you're ready, Mick, whenever_" her words dissolved to a sensual laugh of expectation.

I was reticent to turn in full view and I turned my head, her finger touched my jaw and she drew by face forward, _"Please, Mick, don't hide from us". _I closed my mouth and eyes and within seconds I was alert in an unfamiliar sense. Just having a human woman, being free to be what I am there was a rush added to the sensation of Beth's attentions and the animal burst to the fore that I was left grinning in my hunger and anticipation of our coming.

Beth's tanned wrist pulsed before me as she bent closer. I held her firmly with both hands and kissed my destination. The bite would awkward so I sat up, wrapping her legs behind me, breast to chest as she bent her arm with her wrist close between us. We joined in a kiss, murmuring to each other when I drew her to my mouth and bit.

Spun in a world of white lights and shattering skin we held tight. I fast to her wrist, she to my body as we shared the orgasm.

We lay afterward, Beth in a haze that dissolved to sleep. I set the alarm on my phone in case I zoned out. I drank a glass of fresh drawn purloined from Josef's stash and returned to bed. It paled in comparison to the animated blood drawn while coming, however it was nourishment and my control was based on my regular nourishment and now I needed my control.

The alarm shocked me, and I stirred Beth with a kiss and a whisper. She smiled and covered her mouth, _"Excuse me," _so demure after performing all the gymnastics we rendered to each other it made me smile. _"I had the most erotic dream last night_" she stretched in the bed and finger combed her hair.

_"Well, I had the most erotic night….should we compare notes?"_I asked, leaning up on my elbow, watching her.

_"You bit me, and when you bit me, down there_" she touched the inside of her leg without looking "_it was like fireworks and I came so hard and then I…ah….got on top of you, you were purring and then you bit my arm and we both exploded"_ and her expression changed when she saw the two small holes on her wrist. She slid back from me, touching at her neck, lifting the sheet to look at her inner thigh. _"It wasn't a dream was it? I didn't imagine…." _She sat up her hand over her mouth.

_"You didn't imagine our conversation…"_I was falling, falling from an immeasurable height. Unsure of the level of rejection I was about to feel, I left the bed to dress. She watched me pull on my jeans, commando and I returned to the end of the bed, where I had given her my news last night.

_"It wasn't a dream, Beth. Do you remember what we talked about?" _The sensations were draining from me; ice cold was overtaking me. I rubbed my hands together for warmth.

_"It was about you….something about you.. Something about vampires."_Beth stood up and put her foot up on the bed to get a better look at her inner thigh.

_"Did you think because I gushed over a TV show you had to role play just to thrill me, I mean it was the most incredible sex of my life.. I mean not that I've had a lot of sex, Oh crap how should I say this without sounding like an idiot slut?"_she hesitated after inspecting her wrist

_"How did you do that? I mean the bites are clean and I didn't see you put those fangs in and you have nice regular teeth….Crap I am just rambling, Mick you're hot on your own, you don't have to play a vampire to thrill me…."_

She was rambling, and with each word I was plunged further into hell.  
_  
__"Beth, where do you see us in a month? In 6 months?"_ She could leave today and write me off as a fetishist, I'd never have to call her again. No one would believe her that I sprung fangs and made her come harder than she had ever come, plus whom would she tell that story to?  
_  
__"I thought we were having a good start, I was hoping to get to know you better. Last night on the roof was a phenomenal beginning_" she was walking around the room picking up her panties and bra, redressing. I scented the air for fear or hate without result.

_"Beth, do you remember…."_

_"I remember you asking me to listen to everything you said, that you were married….." _she sat back down and put her face in her hands, _"You said you wanted me to listen carefully and that you'd answer any questions if I'd just let you finish first"_She looked up at me, biting a nail for a second before she smoother her hair and resumed dressing.

_"Then what do you remember?"_I was hoping that it would dawn on her or that she would bolt and never answer my calls. She had to make a choice before I started talking again.

_"You said it wasn't a prank, you said you were made a vampire, you showed me your fangs, you drank the blood from my finger, and you drank from my leg and my wrist too, right?"_ I nodded silently "_I asked you if … if making love was always going to feel this way_" fully dressed now I expected her to bolt, only she walked to me and sat next to me.

_"Mick….this is a tremendous confidence to hold, you had to really trust me to put yourself out for me." _she inhaled deeply, _"I've never had a relationship with a vamp, so in a month, will I want to be changed or turned or whatever you called it, will I be as excited about seeing you as I am now? If "us" is the right place for me," _she placed the flat of her hand over my still heart _"then I know I'll be there and you'll be right here"_, she took my hand and placed it over her vibrant heart.

**_She doesn't give you time for questions as she locks up your arm in hers__  
__And you follow 'till your sense of which direction completely disappears__  
__By the blue tiled walls near the market stalls there's a hidden door she leads you to__  
__These days, she says, I feel my life just like a river running through the year of the cat__She looks at you so coolly and her eyes shine like the moon in the sea__  
__She comes in incense and patchouli so you take her, to find what's waiting inside the year of the cat.__Well morning comes and you're still with her and the bus and the tourists are gone__  
__And you've thrown away your choice and lost your ticket__  
__So you have to stay on but the drum-beat strains of the night remain__  
__In the rhythm of the new-born day you know sometime you're bound to lose her__  
__but for now you're going to stay in the year of the cat._**

**Part 4  
**Mick's POV:

Mondays are a whole lot better when they start later in the day, one benefit of being undead. We packed up the food for her lunch and she headed out the door. I watched her on the monitor and security cameras until her car pulled out into the street and disappeared to a dot on the screen. She left a pleasant scent hovering in the bed, as well as trailing down the staircase.

After Beth left, I racked some quality freezer time, waking about 4pm. After rising, reluctantly showering off Beth's bouquet and dressing I sent Beth a text message. By 5pm I was in the car to Josef's. I waved to the girls by the pool and Saundra returned my wave enthusiastically then held her wrist aloft and winked. Sure, I thought, she looked like the entire food pyramid in a 40"-28"-38" package and she was _delicious.__  
_  
After dinner Josef was still verbally thrashing the guy on the other end of the phone line and he waved me over to a chair in front of his desk.

_"You're up early, Josef" _I greeted him as he hung up and entered data into the keyboard.

_"Some of us need to go the extra mile, Mick, which is why I am glad you're here now. This thing with the stage director, it's got Simone's family all twisted"._ I saw Josef's concern, yet didn't see our connection to this human crime. There had been no Vamp evidence that evening and returning to the scene would only confuse me with the scents of the CSI and Coroner staff.  
_  
__"Mick, the report from my contact hinted at organized crime, some situation with a union. Mr. Williams was in a position to buck the eminent changes, significantly decreasing their market share"_

_"Well, if you know all that – what am I going to change? You think they're going to fold when I show up to talk, eyes burning like red coals? Do we want to step into their world?" _I wasn't keen on this at all. I like Vamps dispensing Vamp Justice and humans to dispense their own.

_"Mick, I wouldn't ask for help if it didn't cross a line. This has all the indications that it's coming our way. I'll know more tomorrow, I just want your word that you are on board with us."_

_"Us? As in vamps or Us as in some splinter group?"_

Josef blanched at my question, sat silent for 30 – 45 seconds and then replied, _"Mick, the splinter you remove today may have fallen off the stake you feel tonight"_

_Please open a second window in YouTube and enjoy the soundtrack for this episode _

_Annie Lennox - Primitive_  
http: / www . you tube . com / watch?v=TOkXmCtS9aw...feature=related

6pm and still no word from Beth, no response from my text mail. I tapped at the keyboard and followed up on phone calls from another marital case. Nervous, I set my phone up on the desk, falsely thinking I'd miss a phone call if I was deep in thought. Who am I fooling? I can't even think that deep right now. The telephone rang at 6:47pm and I jumped, caller unknown "_Mr. Mick St John?" _a woman's voice asked.  
_  
__"Yes, may I ask whose calling?"_

_"I am placing a call for Elizabeth Turner, would you hold for her?"_She's definitely been promoted if she has someone placing her calls for her!

_"Yes, of course"_ I leaned back in the chair and waited, hearing a chairs move, people chatting, machines running in the background. I got up and began to pace when I heard beeping like medical monitors. At least she was able to get to the phone.  
_  
__"Mick, I'm sorry to bother you…."_She sounded petulant.

_"Beth, what's happened? Are you OK?"_I had to slow down my words…

_"I had a car accident, really stupid….especially since I hit my girlfriend's car after I got hit. Could I bother you for a ride home? I'm a little shook up"_I could hear it in her voice, so I got her location and promised I'd be there shortly.

When I arrived and asked her location I was taken back to a treatment room and there she was, in a wheelchair with her left leg extended and immobilized in what looked like a 21st Century torture devise. I darted to her and kneeled to give her a hug and kiss. She had a fat lip from hitting the airbag and what looked like a splinted hand.

_"So, what does the other guy look like?" _I grinned at her.

_"I got the worst of it, stitches here", _she pointed to the inside of her mouth, _"and my hand and leg both broken. They took my girlfriend to a different hospital and both our cars are being towed. I didn't have anyone else to call, I'm so sorry"_

_"Don't be sorry, I'd feel like a cad if I couldn't help you. Are you being released tonight?"_she nodded the pitiful nod of someone who didn't want to be alone.

_"They want me in the chair, off my leg for a week, minimum. With a broken arm I down the creek. I don't have an elevator, so I'm going to have to ask you to help me up the stairs"_She looked near tears.

_"Are you ready to leave? We can get you settled, no problem. Leave it to me"_the emotions of the E.R. were beginning to get to me, the passions involved in living weren't bad, it was the finality of those dying and close to death… I felt the fear of the GSW on the other side of the ER as they assessed him for treatment. The air was thick with blood, all types.

Beth winced at the thought she had summoned a vampire to a place saturated in bodily fluids and began to look as nervous as me. _"I've signed my papers, they just wouldn't release me to a cab, let's go, OK? This is getting to you isn't it?"_I got behind her and wheeled through the doors, parking her to get my car. I got her situated and folded the chair into the trunk. It didn't fit and I tied down the trunk to keep it from bouncing as we drove.

This is just me being normal ….doing a normal ….thing for my normal girlfriend. Only I'm a vampire and I just about lost it standing in an E.R. The odd thing is, she was the one whose eyes sprung copious tears as the car rolled down the road.

The car approached her building and I carried the chair and her bag of cut-off clothing up to her apartment, unlocking the door and opening the chair for her arrival. Back at my car she sat forlornly, _"I'm going to try and do this without hurting you, let me know if it hurts, OK?"_

_"Being strong, is that part of what you are?" _she felt the effortless swing as I carried her taking the steps almost two at a time.

_"It is, yes it is" _I could answer small questions like this, from her. Placing her in the chair and closing her front door I wheeled her around to face the sofa and sat down. _"Now, how are you going to take care of yourself for the next week?"_  
_  
__"I'm going to be out of school for the rest of this week, then next week I'll have a rental, I'll be getting around slowly. I can do delivery" _she shrugged.

_"I want to help you"_ I said flatly. _"I mean, your right arm is broken, you're right handed….you can't even wheel yourself unless it's in circles._" Then I felt badly because the tears began flowing again.

_"Mick, when I called you I never intended to mooch off you, I just needed a ride"_ she almost sounded brave….just didn't have me convinced. _"I'd gladly pay for the gas_" she volunteered. I put up my hand to stop her.  
_  
__"I'll give you all the privacy you need; I'll be swinging by every day about sundown. I expect you to call me if you need anything"_ I looked around for her purse and brought it to her. "_Fish your phone out of this satchel and let me program my numbers"._

I sat and tapped in every number for me and put the phone in her left hand.  
_  
__"Your wish is my command_" I joked trying to get her to smile. It wasn't working.

_Sweetheart, the sun has set all red and primitive above our heads__**  
**__Blood stained on an ageless sky wipe your tears and let the salt stains dry__Let them all run dry, all run dry..._

I recognized she didn't want to get left in bed after a day at work and a being put back together with Velcro and elastic. I pulled a mixing bowl filling it with warm water and soft scented soap. I spread her out on the full bed on top of her largest bath towel and carefully removed her hospital gown to gently stroke the remnants of the day off her arms and legs.

The smells of the accident and E.R. were leaving, taking some of her tensions with them. I did this silently as she watched me, our eyes locked on each other. She had pointed to a night gown in the closet and we got it on her without too much pain.

_"I guess if we could do all the things we did to each other yesterday that I can lay back and let you do this….." _she was breathing easier and feeling less pain. I brought her the remote control, set up the phone cradle and her cell phone and brought some water for the night table. In the dim light she seemed to disappear into the bed as if it were quicksand

Beth held out her good arm and I clasped her hand, "_Mick, would you lie here a few minutes, or maybe until I fell asleep?" _she tried to shift a little to the other side and I moved her gently to give me enough room. I untied my boots and pulled them off then I walked around to lie on her unbroken side.  
_  
Sweetheart, take me to bed that's where all our prayers are said__**  
**__Whispered silent in the night that's how all our dreams take flight__Let them all go by, All go by...  
_  
There was no mystery about her. In the past 48 hours we had wooed each other, played naked in each other's arms and exchanged intimate favors. Tonight without a second thought I divorced my body from my desire and ministered to her damaged body as if she had been a member of my Army Company.

That spell has been broken when she asked for my body next to hers. I gently kissed her lips; she thanked me for "_everything"_and closed her eyes. I lay there listening for her respiration to calm and her pink lips fell open, drawing air and making a little snoring sound.

I was drawn to her not by what we had said tonight, _yet by what we had not needed to say.__  
_

**_For time will catch us in both hands to blow away like grains of sand__  
__Ashes to ashes rust to rust this is what becomes of us __Sweetheart, Send me to sleep, Pray to god our hopes to keep__  
__Take our fears and make us strong, lead us to where we belong __And let it all go by, all go by..._**

**Part 5  
**Mick's POV:

In the half light of the moon I watched the steady rise and fall of Beth's breasts under the blue nightgown. About 3 am or so I saw she was beginning to stir, her breathing changed and she was shifting herself against the weight of the apparatus on her leg. When she whimpered a bit I knew she was waking from the fog of the painkillers. She turned her face in my direction and she gasped at the pallor of my face in the moon glow.

_"I'm sorry, I forgot these are the hours you're up, do you ever sleep?"_emphasizing the word sleep as if it were the main question.

_"No, not like you do, I'm either eyes open or eyes shut"_Somehow I felt the need to explain.

She pushed herself up _"I need to get to the…"_

_"Bathroom?" _we finished the sentence together and I rose to carry her rather than to expect her chair to fit within the small bathroom.

_"I guess these are your noon hours, huh?"_ Beth asked as I lay her down on the fluffed pillows and newly smoothed sheets.  
_  
__"You could say that"_I wasn't sure how much she wanted to know about us and I didn't begrudge her info, just didn't need to bore her.

_"Am I keeping you from work?"_Beth asked me, playing with the bedcovers as if distracted.

Yes and no, I thought_….."No, I want to be right her, helping you". _More than you know Beth; I want to be with you.

I heard her stomach growl and figured she was going to need to eat. With her fat lip and stitches I figured it better be soup or something soft. "_Are you hungry?"_ Did she want an ice cream sundae for breakfast?  
_  
__"Finally -Yes, I am, what time is it?" _she looked around at the clock seeing 3:22am. _"I'm not getting any take out this time of the morning"_and she looked resigned to starve.

_"Let me see what we can whip up here….."_ I walked out to the kitchen and opened the fridge. "_Left over Chinese take-out, salad greens, some ground beef that smells bad, half a pound of deli smoked ham, a half dozen eggs"_ I heard her groan and opened the freezer,_ "4 Lean Cuisines, frozen chicken wings, pizza rolls and the remains of the Chunky Monkey ice cream"_

_"Surprise me"_she yelped not too enthusiastically.

I opened a few drawers and found my tools. Throwing a few eggs in a bowl I heated a pan and commenced to cut up the deli ham into tiny slivers small enough to almost swallow. She must have heard me working; I didn't hear any further requests. She trusted me. When I put it all together on the plate I wondered how it would taste…it smelled pretty good. I found a bed tray on top of the fridge and laid out a paper towel, silverware and the plate. Added a glass of OJ and threw a clean dish towel over my arm. _"Breakfast is served"_I announced as I entered the bedroom.

For a human about to eat Vampire cooked food Beth looked pretty happy. I set the tray over her lap and she began to eat with her left hand.

_"Do I make you self-conscious if I watch you eat?" _I asked, watching her chew with her hand over her mouth.  
_  
__"I'm not sure all of it is making it into my mouth…I am a little numb and puffy_" she wiped at the bruise around her mouth. "When you're this close to food, do you ever miss it?" she asked quietly.

_"There was a time when I did, I have some favorite meals I remember_" A rare steak, my Father's chili, my Mom's homemade chicken soup…

_"Mick, this is delicious, I really appreciate all you're doing for me. You are such a good cook, it's nice to have a boyfriend that cooks" _and she winked at me when she said that.

_"Why thank-you and it's neat to know I've been promoted to "boyfriend"_I arched my eyebrow and winked back at her.

_"I hate this part, the semantics of adult dating. Lover sounds so illicit, better half sounds like we're 80"_ and she caught herself and giggled, _"I mean you know both of us being 80 after spending 60 years together"_

And I understood….thinking if only I have the chance at 60 years I'll grab it with her.

I carried away the empty plate and tray and gave her some space while I cleaned up my mess. I want her with me, at the loft where the chair can roll easily over the hard floors and the doorways are wide enough to let her maneuver a wheelchair or on crutches. I called from the kitchen, "_Want some Ice-Cream?"_

_"Sure, why not….." _she answered cheerily.

I shot some Ready Whip into the remaining ice cream in the pint container, followed with fudge sauce, and a cherry on top. I walked back to her and sat on the side of the bed, _"if you're going to be my little broken bird, I'll feed you like one, open up_", we played off each other's humor and found wordless comfort in my feeding the sweet smelling semi frozen mush to her. Joking at the coordination needed to feed her, I used the spoon to catch the miss fed drips on her chin.

Her dimples were back and she was smiling again, my Beth was coming back. I scraped the walls of the container to get the last bits and she shook her head, reaching out to my wrist to bring the container to her, she shoved it between her breasts and held it in place with her splinted arm.

_"Watch a pro_" she quipped as she stuck her index finger into the empty pint and ran it like a spatula, raising her finger and licking it clean. _"I can tell you've not spent nights alone eating ice cream from a carton". _Then she saw the drips on my fingers and drew my hand to her mouth and licked my fingers.

Within the context of her being hurt, the texture of her tongue on my fingers nearly shot me to the ceiling; I jumped at vamp speed and stood on the other side of the room, hands pushed down into my pants pockets, looking sheepish. _"I wouldn't do that if I were you tonight_" Broken body or not….Beth turned me on, mussed hair, baby blue and white lace Laura Ashley night gown, no makeup…she's a goddess. I thought I was a really sick bastard to get stiff like this.

My vamp leap drew a squeal form Beth; she hadn't seen me move this fast and it wasn't even half my top speed. She was realizing how different I could be when she began a giggle fit and throwing her head back the whacked the headboard and let out a wail, then more giggling ensued. The two of us were quite simply giddy.

_"It's good to hear you laugh again_" I was gaining enough composure to rejoin her on the bed.  
_  
__"Will you hold me again? Will you come to be with me?"_she asked in a quiet, sweet voice.

How could I deny her request? I turned off the light and laid back down on the bed next to her, as I raised my arm to hold her she added_…."Would you take off your jeans and come under the covers?"_

_"Beth, you think that's a good idea?"_I sure didn't, even with her in the nightgown and me in a t-shirt and boxers.

_"I want to feel you next to me, all I feel is denim, please?" _she nuzzled at my chest as I held her loosely. _"We'll be fine….just hold me, please? Please don't leave me?_"

So I didn't._ I took her with me._

When the sun was above the horizon and she had reawakened we talked about her week ahead. I wanted to make sure Beth had what she needed and it seems Beth thinks she needs me. I need to have access to my office, my freezer and my "kitchen", so we're going to the loft.

I packed a loose suitcase of clothing that Beth selected and I gathered her toiletries into a shopping bag (how does a woman have SO many lotions, potions and cosmetics?) Then there was the stack of DVD's, her iPod and shoes.

Shoes? One pair of Bedroom slippers, one pair of deck shoes….I nixed the dress flats. I know why the Titanic sunk….women carried way too many shoes on board.

By 9am we were on the road to my loft.

I have to separate fantasy from reality….I am not kanoodling with the Beth of my dreams, I'm bringing the human girl I have just begun to date into my home, the home of an 85 year old vampire. As much as I want to spend this week protecting and caring for her….I need to be prepared for moods, feelings, awkwardness and the possibly the thought that I will have to escape to the roof for some solitude. I need to understand that if she gets bitchy and moody and cranky I do not have the right to offer to change her just to stop her from hurting, although it's a great idea_ "Honey, how about I turn you tonight….no more broken bones, no more aging….?"_

For now, she's ensconced on the sofa with all the remotes, her meds, a tray of fruit and cheese and a carafe of OJ. The pain pills are taking hold again and she's pulled the blanket up to her chin, right now the loft is a little chilly for her…..I've got to adjust that a tad…..

_"Mick, could you pop these into the DVD player?"_ she hands me 3 movie discs and I set her up for a few hours of romance.  
_  
__"It looks like you've got your favorites…you've got a few hours here"_I see the covers from Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice and Casablanca next to her snacks.

Please open a second window in YouTube to enjoy the soundtrack, As Time Goes By  
http : / www . you tube . com / watch?v=wxMeu34o_jQ

_**You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh. **__**  
**__**The fundamental things apply as time goes by.**__**  
**__**And when two lovers woo they still say, "I love you." on that you can rely **__**  
**__**No matter what the future brings as time goes by.**_

_"Beth, I need to go upstairs and take care of a few things, take a little nap. Here's a phone, I've got my phone, if you need anything call me, OK?" __"uhumn, Ok, Mick…I'm not going anywhere_" she grins thru the medicated haze and offers a little wave of her hand.

My initially quick steps away from Beth were slowed by the tune, my hand stopped on the banister and my foot fell to the first step and moved no further. On screen Rick was having words with Sam the piano player and then he dealt with facing Ilsa and her husband.

The romance of the movie flashed back to me, seeing it in movie house when I returned from the war. As I took the steps up I sang quietly

"_**Moonlight and love songs never out of date. **__**  
**__**Hearts full of passion jealousy and hate. **__**  
**__**Woman needs man and man must have his mate that no one can deny.**__**  
**__**It's still the same old story a fight for love and glory a case of do or die. **__**  
**__**The world will always welcome lovers as time goes by.**__**  
**__**Oh yes, the world will always welcome lovers as time goes by."**_

And I took that as a cue that Beth and I were headed in the right direction…..

**Part 6  
**Mick's POV:

It was easy enough to get solitary time, Beth was sequestered on the sofa like a swaddled newborn put her there and there she stays until you move her. I uncharacteristically pitched a trail of clothing between the bedroom and the bathroom, was it the responsibility I had assumed that caused me to break my neatnick habits? _Maybe._

**_Beautiful dawn - lights up the shore for me.__  
__There is nothing else in the world, I'd rather wake up and see (with you).__  
__Beautiful dawn - I'm just chasing time again._**

I hit the shower and took it as cold as I could run it, shampooed for an extraordinary length of time just thinking about what I had done in the past weeks. The honesty, reverting to feeding fresh, and was dating a new girl. _A new human girl._

**_Thought I would die a lonely man, in endless night.__  
__But now I'm high; running wild among all the stars above.__  
__Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me._**

I had to make arrangements to feed, had to rest, had to come clean to Josef about my house guest. I turned off the shower jets and dried myself, listening for sounds of Beth stirring. The sound of the movie and that little snoring sound she makes told me I could get some rest in peace…._no joke intended._

Before I slipped off my robe and hit the freezer I left a message for Josef, to call me around 8pm. Being Tuesday I didn't expect him to wander over unannounced, he'd be too busy making money.

Rest did not find me. My mind spun, waiting for the shoe to drop…..speak of the devil and she appears…..what other cliché announces the end of joy? Buried in the confusion and delusions of a prior Beth Turner now Caroline Bishop I'm deciphering my guilt at killing my one and only wife.

I married once, I murdered once. _Let's not do this again._

I lost a piece of my reality, lost when I realized I had not been keeping company with a blond reporter. Woven into the series of imagined events was an interlude with Coraline and a stint at being human until I needed Josef to "_return_" me to the undead.

It couldn't have happened because I did kill her the night I rescued Nancy's daughter. Prior to the kidnapping, Coraline and I had a history of knowing how to flip each other's switches. I was living a vapid existence of work and Freshie parties at Josef's.

In the empty hours I dwelt on the meaning of love and hate and learned that it was one and the same. That it depended on whether she looked at me with regard and desire or with that superior sneer while she treated me like a gigolo. In my loneliest hours I thought we loved each other, that I needed her to survive.

Being without Coraline, sorrow was my companion, the prettiest Freshie paled in comparison and I pined for her. Being with Coraline the damage accrued mathematically, assaults on my value as a Vampire were heaped on top of insults to my manhood. My dead insides twisted at the very thought of Coraline. No one should have that kind of power over another heart and soul.

I never suspected Coraline when Nancy Turner knocked at the office door. Only after I scented the child's meager bedroom and few belongings that I realized the child was with Coraline. Should I have returned Mrs. Turner's deposit and handed off the job? _Probably. _

Of course Coraline felt she needed to display her superior strength by engaging me in a fight. I knew the stories of her strong bloodline; I knew the power of older vampires. Alone, I walked in to retrieve the child with a death wish in my pocket and a target on my back.

It was never my expectation to survive the fight with my wife. It was magnificent to return the child to her Mother, then I returned to my home to languor in the knowledge I had killed my sire, such a heinous act in my society. The self-loathing and angst began to build as I imagined I was protecting the child….when I was actually hiding here in the loft drinking morgue blood. My scope was defined by the jobs I took, my illusions of protecting humans by not drinking fresh and keeping a celibate, monk-like existence.

Had it not been for the strange set of affairs on February 29th….I'd be perpetuating the downward spiral today.

**_Beautiful dawn - melt with the stars again.__  
__Do you remember the day when my journey began?__  
__Will you remember the end (of time)?_**

Instead I'm experiencing the best days of my life, living or undead. I am not at war, I have friends, I have plenty and I have the prospect of a partner. Even the prospect is invigorating.

Contemplating all of this I didn't remember when my eyes closed and my mind stopped thrashing.

The telephone vibrated at my hip and my hand flew off it then grabbed it. It was 4:58pm and it was Beth calling from downstairs. "_Hey_" I answered, hopefully transmitting my smile with my greeting.

_"Hey, yourself…..I really fell asleep… did you get any rest?" _I could feel her smile.

_"I think we both did, we slept the whole day away, ready for dinner?"_ she had to be famished, I knew I was. "_I'll be down in a few, OK?"_I was already out of the freezer and picking out clothes.

I had wanted to make the call to Josef about dinner upstairs in private, he'd already be in the office so I dialed him, "_Josef, are you free? I have a request…."_

**_Beautiful dawn - You're just blowing my mind again.__  
__Thought I was born to endless night, until you shine.__  
__High; running wild among all the stars above.__  
__Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me._**

Beth was a vision lost in the fluffy down quilt…..her blond bob an oasis in the chocolate brown covers. She wanted time in the chair, so we got her situated and she used her good foot and good arm to roll around the 1st floor. I could see how antsy she was getting. She freshened up in the bathroom until I thought she had fallen into a vortex. After living alone the two of us were finding value in the solitude of a bathroom's closed door.

When the door opened and she awkwardly rolled out I had to hold her, had to ask her for a kiss, had to taste her lips. Not wanting to crush or hurt her I gingerly stroked her shoulder and neck and held her face in my hands, avoiding the bruises.

_"You're killing me, Mick"_ she whispered through the kiss….and I pulled back to have her reach for me. _"Not hurting me, killing me…..I want to be well so you can do those things you do so well" _She accentuated the words "well" in each sentence and winked.

_"So, broken bones and an unbroken libido?" _I asked with a lecherous grin.

_"Right, the leg itches as much as …. Ah…you know…my" _and she touched herself, smiling "_twitches for you. Those couple of nights spoiled me very badly…_" I was glad to know my longing was mutual.

We negotiated whether bathing or eating was her first priority and she wanted the privacy to bath herself, so I carried her upstairs to the ample shower stall with the handheld attachment. Once her broken leg and arm were covered in plastic bags she looked pretty cute and I let her alone, keeping a nervous ear for any accidents.

I was expecting a messenger with a couple pints of fresh drawn A+ so I excused myself thru the closed door and waited for the delivery. I must be an important client…Josef came to the door with a cooler in hand, smirking as his clicker didn't open the door. The image on the monitor was priceless.

_"Mick, remember who owns the building…open up buddy, it's not the Pizza man."_

I didn't torture him long, He sprung thru the doorway sniffing as he walking, seeing the bedcovers on the sofa he pounced.

_"Mick, boyo, one step forward, two steps back….why the setup on the sofa?"_

_"Car accident, Beth is staying for a couple of days until she's out of the wheelchair"_I was matter of fact about my houseguest.

_"Ouch" _Josef winced as he scratched his head and put the contents of the cooler in the hidden fridge, "_thinking of turning her?"_ He made the bite motion at his wrist and wiggled his eyebrows "_She'd be better than new and you could be taking care of your first fledgling instead of an invalid?"_

I shot him a sideways look like "_What the hell?" _while Josef poured himself a glass of single malt and sat down.

_"OK, OK, I understand…new relationship….might not make 6 months, much less eternity…." _Josef put his hand up to keep me from flying in his face.

_"Josef, she's a great girl, I like her, a lot. It's been pretty good, even with the car accident. She broke a leg and an arm and has stitches inside her mouth. When I bring her back down, please don't stare, OK?"_

_"So does this mean you're taking the week off too?" _that question was delivered with a flat tone.

_"No, I'll be working from home"_No reason to totally piss him off I thought. I heard Beth's call and excused myself.

I carried the chair down first and then returned with a smiling, spanking clean Beth. She was radiant in her fresh scrubbed way. Josef perked up right away, I guess he thought she'd look like a car wreck. Well, she did look like a car wreck, just a refreshingly beautiful car wreck….

The two of them made small talk while I picked up the empty plate and glass on the coffee table and cleaned her dishes. I could discern jokes about my cooking and her gracious rebuttal, I heard Josef suggesting I rent her a hospital bed that raised and lowered, which she poo-pooed the need for.

When I turned and watched their snappy patty Josef stood suddenly and chirped, "Well, boys and girls, it's time to go make another million, so I'll leave the two of you to your film festival and vamp cooked food, Beth, make him order from the Bern's Steak House in Tampa, I'll have it flown in, they have a wine list the size of a phone book. So I'm told….toodles, I'll let myself out, Mick"

_"If I hadn't met him, I would believe he's real….he has got the craziest sense of humor!" _Beth of course was enthralled.

So there we were, washed, fed and watered….finding the living room furniture stiff, I locked up the first floor and carried my patient up to the bedroom where we first had so many discoveries.

_"Mick, could you kind of prop me where I'm not so flat?" _so I did and I climbed into bed beside her, letting her lean into me while I scented her soft floral body lotion and the scent of her body while she rested and healed. When we were settled she whispered, "_Did you foresee any of this?"_

_"Foresee this as in your accident or this as in you being in my arms?"_I whispered back, kissing the side of her face.

She sighed and said, "_Either, both….even us meeting?"_

_"Well, I'm a vampire, not a mind reader or a fortune teller" _as much as I wanted sight into the future, it wasn't my gift to have. _"I am grateful to be able to hold you without hurting you….I'm not hurting you am I?" _

_"Mick, it would hurt me if you weren't holding me. I've been walking on a cloud since we met."_ She began to get that dreamy eyed look and I was melting into her. _"Just, please don't pinch me because I don't want to wake up and find this is all a dream"_  
_  
__"Beth, let me make these promises….I may bite, I won't pinch and I'll be here when you wake up". _And she offered her lips to me for a gently kiss, which I sustained for as long as I could. She broke for air and licked her lips….  
_  
__"Mick, I always want to remember how we feel right now" _and she closed her eyes with an ethereal smile on her lips.

**_Will you be my shoulder when I'm grey and older?__  
__Promise me tomorrow starts with you, __  
__Getting high; running wild among all the stars above.__  
__Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me_**

To be continued in the Series... Love Avowed


	5. Chapter 5 LOVE AVOWED

LOVE AVOWED – Sequel to LOVE SHARED

Rated: NC-17  
Categories: Alternate Universe Characters: Beth, Josef, Mick  
Chapters: 4 Completed: Yes  
Word count: 8626  
Published: August 22, 2009

Love Avowed

**Part 1 **

**Avowed by Flesh**

Mick's POV:

I sat in the back of a Ryder Rental truck, peering between the stacked cardboard boxes making notes of tag numbers and any overheard conversation. The town car stopped outside the Arts Center, front passenger door springing open first, releasing a burly black suited body guard type. The cut of the suit should have covered the holster, yet the young man's appetite for pasta fagiolo and gnocchi pushed its limits. He opened the back door and Janus Alba rose from the seat, buttoned his suit jacket and strode up the steps, turning once to point and shakes his head. Convinced of their understanding, Janus resumed the walk into the Arts Center. I was sure Janus was the heavy hand behind the stage manager's death, even though the fleshy bodyguard's hands did the pushing.

His meeting with the members of the Arts Council spelled a disaster in the troubled economy. His desire to exercise his options expanded the "the family's" grip. So now it seems this is going to be the "The Family" vs. "The Tribe".

I dropped off the card with the photos and the taped discussions at Josef's and had a bite, then returned to the loft to find Beth still watching Pride and Prejudice….was it the 3rd time, and the 3rd time she had dozed off while the DVD played thru. I powered down the TV and player and sat opposite Beth, I watched the light flutter of her eyelids and her blonde lashes as she slept stretched out on my fairly uncomfortable couch. It looked stylish, just now I am finding out you can't get frisky on it or relax on it.

Beth had been with me a few days, it's Friday and I was looking at the separation anxiety I'd be going thru when Beth was out of the chair and back in her apartment. Could I extend her visit extolling the benefits of an elevator? I basically had until Tuesday's follow-up appointment to convince her to extend her stay.

Just my thinking about her is causing her to stir, or have I grown sensitive to small movements like a new parent to their plaintive infant?

"Mick, is that you in the office?" Beth's voice is stronger as her mouth is healing, I can hear her loud and clear as I sit at the keyboard looking at a little scooter she can take to school while she recuperates, kindergarten kids would go wild for a teacher on wheels.

"Yup, babe, need anything?" I leave the solitude of the office for a hug and a kiss. "Did you feel like a ride, the sunset is going to be beautiful, we could take a ride to the pier, get you some soft serve?" Friday night, date night with a different attitude.

"Umnmmmm, that sounds inviting, would you hoist me up the stairs to I can get cleaned up for our date?" Beth was moving easier and needing me less. I swept her up for a kiss and carried her upstairs.

The ocean was gentle in its approach to the shore and the sound made it the kind of evening you wanted to laze in the water's reflection of the melting sun. I watched that talented tongue swirl around the cone and wished I was ice cream. Beth knew her oral assault was putting a grin on my face and she laughed lasciviously between bites, licking her lips as she swallowed the ice cream.

"Feel like getting out at all this weekend?" I asked her, hoping to entertain her outside of our four walls.

"I do have a little cabin fever, could we stop back by my apartment, just to check on it?" She was quiet and I was hoping this wasn't her way of asking to go home. So we drove back by her place to find things just as we left them Tuesday morning. "Wow, this place looks small compared to your loft….I'm getting spoiled" she shot me a look and grinned. I retrieved things as Beth pointed and requested a few more personal items.

_She can do anything at all; have anything she pleases….. __  
__The power to change what she thinks is wrong so what could she want with me, yeah?_

Please open a second window on YouTube to hear the soundtrack:

Chris Cornell- Can't Change Me

In the car Beth asked one of my dreaded questions…."how do you eat?" I didn't want to cover the subject quite yet, if she asked, I had promised to answer her questions.

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" still I didn't want to freak her out.

"I'm a big girl, I've seen Blade and Underworld", she shrugged.

"You know I consume blood sometimes daily, sometimes more frequently if I'm tired or trying to heal." I was watching the road while she watched me.

"I've been bitten, and it is indescribable. Do you take much when you bite in bed? I mean compared to when you eat…." She was unstoppable now.

"When we make love, I only bite to fully release, to come. I got maybe three small mouthfuls, a few ounces. Made you come harder, didn't it?" Knowing the effect of the bite on her orgasm I knew she could come to crave the act on a carnal level, without romance, without love. I would pray her desire for me would be one of connecting romantically.

"When I eat or feed, I'm consuming about a pint on average, more if I'm worn out or hurt." I wanted to leave it at that and I knew the next questions.

"So if you eat every day, where do you get it?" her voice weight a bit heavier.

"I go to Josef's" nothing more to be said.

"And where would a hedge fund trader get blood…..?" she hesitated before she shrugged her shoulders up to accentuate the question.

"He has willing donors who are compensated for their blood." She didn't have to know about the hidden fridge or that Josef's late night run the other night was a "delivery".

"Will you ever let me watch? Or do you all eat in private?" I smiled as I thought about Josef's parties, the women that cycled through my lap. Not quite private in the old days, more discrete these days.

"If you want to watch….it's nothing to see" But it was, it was erotic, it drummed the human donor to the most primal urges and the bite satisfied like no other sensation.

"Will you ever feed on me?" She sounded hopeful, almost offering.

"I could, you're delicious, I mean if you were offering. There'd be some stipulations that you'd want to follow, just for your health" I wasn't interviewing Freshies and didn't want to glamorize the job.

"You disappear every time you eat and I feel badly sitting in your home forcing you to hide" Beth's genuine manners and kindness shone thru her voice.

"It's nothing very attractive, just a glass and the blood is thick, dark. I leave because I like to clean up after I eat" Nothing like a bloody kiss I thought, as the car entered the garage of my building.

"That's a twist…most people wash before dinner, you wash up afterwards" Beth had a cute sense of humor. I sat in the car, killed the engine and put my arm across the back of the seat.

"Well, I could want dessert and it's not polite to kiss with food on your lips" I leaned in for one of her kisses and she reached for my hand, kissing my palm and placing my hand on her inner thigh.

"I have been dying inside all this week, so close to you, seeing you without your shirt in those pajama pants. I am nearly nuts waiting to be in bed with you again."

Each morning I had been spending about an hour with her in bed before I'd leave for the freezer. We hadn't had the discussion of where I went; she seemed satisfied with knowing my sanctuary was private. I hadn't imposed myself on her, and the control I needed for that restraint was dwindling with the heat of her inner thigh on my cold hand. We kissed briefly, closed lips nothing more than brushing against each other. No pounding heart beat up to my chest….we were far enough to remain chaste

**_Wait just one minute here I can see that she's trying to read me… __  
__Suddenly I know she's going to change the world, she's going to change the world, __  
__But she can't change me, no she can't change me __  
_**_**She has the daylight at her command she gives the night its dreams, yeah** _

Chaste until I helped her move into her chair, until I stood over her pushing the chair, feeling her scent vibrating as the breeze blew over her into me. I want to smack myself for wanting to ravish her broken body. It would serve me right if the Velcro on her brace scratched me bloody, to heal and scratch me bloody again.

This week our entertainment had been watching movies with Beth across my lap, while I bit at my lips trying to behave myself. Tonight, getting situated in the loft there were few words between us. I excused myself, knowing she'd assume I was off to feed when I actually succumbed to a cold shower to wash her from me. I needed distance from her when all I wanted was to crush into her and drink from her. I needed to find her true center and quicken her heart with my lips and tongue, then settle into her delicate hollow in her thigh and drink a properly drawn pint. I turned off the water and sat on the shower floor, back against the tile, chilling out. I lost track of the time, when I completely had dried I figured I had been in the silent shower stall a while.

**_She can uncover your darkest fear and make you forget you feel it . . . . . __  
__Wait just one minute more I can see that she's trying to free me, suddenly I know. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __  
__She's going to change the world, she's going to change the world, she's going to change the world. __  
__But she can't change me, no she can't change me._**

I was nudged back to reality with an unfamiliar sound, and I popped open the shower stall door to see Beth seated on the floor, sliding herself and grinning like the tortoise that overtook the hare.

"Aren't you supposed to stay put?" I asked, throwing a washcloth over my semi erection.

"Don't showers usually have running water?" She asked as she began to strip off her blouse and awkwardly wiggle out of her skirt.

"When did we start answering questions with questions?" I pushed back, getting to my feet, exiting the stall and wrapping a towel around my waist.

"When did we start speaking to each other like a "b" movie?" She laughed, thinking she could pull herself up to a standing position to be nose-to-nose with me.

"What are you trying to do? Hurt yourself in the bathroom? Don't you know the numbers of accidents in the home?" I wanted to sweep her up and ravish her.

"Well, I can't have an accident here…..you see accidents happen within so many miles of home, usually in the bathroom or kitchen, since this isn't my home you'll be the one having the accident" she made air quotes around the word "accident".

That was it, the air quotes just about busted my gut…..it broke the tension enough for me to sweep her up, flash to the bedroom and finish stripping the clothes off her, revealing the green and purple bruises from banging back and forth in the car. Suddenly I saw the abrupt difference between her beautiful tan flesh and the coarse canvas and Velcro splints. I wanted to feed her just enough of my blood to end these languorous aches, reclaiming her for my bed and our romantically erotic exchanges.

**_Suddenly I can see everything that's wrong with me, yeah, but what can I do? __  
__I'm the only thing I really have at all __  
__But wait just one minute here I can see that she's trying to need me __  
__Suddenly I know she's going to change the world __  
_**_**But she can't change me, no she can't, no she can't change me**  
_

Beth lay there, unashamed by the colors of her skin, her honesty poured out of her flesh like a confession. She has spent days in pain and we've virtually danced around the attraction we have for each other. I dispelled my desires as victimizing her; Beth has sublimated her desire to be taken with romantic films and ogling movie stars.

"Beth, if this is too soon, tell me…I don't want to hurt you". I stood at the end of the bed, the towel slung lower from carrying her to the bed. Beth's reply came with the sweep of her good foot, running under the tucked flap and releasing the towel from my waist. Her friction of her foot caused me to lengthen. "Was that a Yes, or a No or a Maybe?"

"Let's just play nice and I think I'll be fine, if you hear me squeal in pain just back off a bit….OK?" She presented such an enticing image; I never dreamed that she could be generous and loving like this. I should add hungry and eager, as those emotions were licking at her like flames.

I knelt next to the bed and leaned over to stroke her hair and kiss her lips. "You know how I mentioned how delicious you are?"

"Yes, you mentioned that" her fingers danced over my chest.

"When we're in public, all the other vampires are going to know we're a couple, from just the few drops I've taken from you, from what we've done in this room." She watched my eyes begin to glaze to vampire. Beth held out her arms, inviting me to lay with her.

"So, tell me, Mick, what would you have to do to let them know that I'm completely yours?" She held me to her breasts and I cleaved to her with silent passion. I produced my left hand and bit myself at the wrist, in the same place that I savored on Beth, then taking my wrist to her mouth I bade to kiss the small wounds before they healed. She followed my guidance and licked her lips clean of my blood. I rolled to her and saw a change for the better in her bruising. Her flexibility returned with pain eased and she sighed sounds I had not heard in days from her.

We touched and petted and kissed and her tongue ran over my lengthened fangs more than 3 or 4 times. Our rhythm escalated to wordless entreaties. I felt her hand pull me over her center as she pushed my head between her legs. She had the urgent need to be taken while I needed to acquiesce. My glancing lips touched her anxious flesh and she pressed into me. I sampled her, tasting her weeklong desire to be taken. More than anything I wanted to steal her pain and replace it with profoundly loving and passionate actions.

Beth's body spoke directly to me, the result of just a few drops of my blood within her. Beth's fevered excitement induced me to shiver before I brought her first rumbling climax, her sweet musk seeping slowly as she trembled within my arms. I rose upward to read her emotions in her eyes and she pulled me toward her lips, begging to taste my lips. Her pout gave way to my tongue and she bit back at my lower lip, our thrust and parry increasing in speed until she begged my entry into her.

I bobbed at her entry, tickling and teasing while her eyes expressed her immediate need for my stroke. In so deep and smooth, my stroke against her walls gave us another world to explore together. Riding like waves on the shore in a private world I licked and kissed her lips while we took all we could from each other. Our fulfillment jockeyed ahead of us, placing our complete gratification many more moments ahead.

"I'm yours, Mick, take me" was her visceral response to my long, deep strokes within her. Beth slipped her hand under her breast offering it to me for the bite. The beast within me ran his tongue over my fangs and lips to savor the bite. Once I scented our climax I went for my prize, tasting her orgasm in her blood, setting off my explosion. She clung to me, pushing her hair out of her eyes, dazed and dreamy. We made eye to eye contact and she whispered…..

"Does the word love scare you, Mick?"

**_Suddenly I can see everything that's wrong with me, yeah, but what can I do? __  
__I'm the only thing I really have at all __  
__But wait just one minute here I can see that she's trying to need me __  
__Suddenly I know she's going to change the world __  
__But she can't change me, no she can't, no she can't change me_**

**Part 2 **

**Avowed by Words  
**  
_**You've got the cool water when the fever runs high**__**  
**__**You've got the look of love light in your eyes**__**  
**__**And I was in crazy motion til you calmed me down**__**  
**__**It took a little time but you calmed me down**_**  
**  
Mick's POV:

Scare, frighten, shock, confuse, did you want to open a virtual dictionary and find my photo? I held her closer to forestall her seeing my expression although the delay spoke volumes.

"Mick, did I lose you there?" the delay of my answer refueled her energy. Besides being a dead man, in her eyes I would be a "dead man".

"No, you didn't lose me. I'm at a loss for words, so soon after this" I ran my finger tips over her arm "This – all this was the last thing I expected to find, finding you and having you accept me." I held Beth closer and whispered, "The thought of never having someone to love scared me." I dare not assume this meant she loved me so soon. I was aware of the power of the bite and the base instincts that wrapped themselves around the vampire's thralling.

"I'll always remember the day we met, even though it was on the telephone." She reached for my hand to entwine our fingers.

"You mean I had you at "Hello?" I wanted bring some levity to the serious question Beth asked. She released my hand and swatted me on the chest for that remark.

"When they build you guys at the factory…do they divert men to install an extra ego gene?" she was breathing normally now, yet her flesh was still blotchy and blood rushed….she smelled delightful wearing a cocktail of sweat and sex.

"Absolutely, it helps when we're in the presence of beautiful women who may not give us the time of day" I was trying my best serious face, and it was slipping into a smile as I began to sit up on the bed.

"Ooh, going for the pity position….are fishing for compliments so early in this thing we have?" she asked drawing her tongue over her lips, raising an eyebrow.

"Beth, just being able to bring you to this room took all kinds of bravado. I mean, I wanted to know you better from the first time I saw you. I had all kinds of notions that we'd never come so far so fast. I didn't see you even calling me back from that first phone call"

"Well thank god for being able to check telephone numbers on the invoice. Once I saw you in the newscast I had to find out if you were my wrong number" she rejoined our hands and I felt her pulse, even and smooth as we spoke. It sang to me and calmed me for the rest of the discussion.

"So if I had been 5'8" and bald you wouldn't have called me?" I bit my bottom lip and gave her my best crazy look.

"You want me to be honest?" she rolled her eyes a bit, "I've already done that….I mean, Anthony was 5'10" and losing his hair already. That had nothing to do with the breakup." She stopped for a minute, drawing her good foot up closer to her, as if beginning to build a wall around herself.

"I had a dream about you, the night of the TV newscast. That you drove a red car like Magnum, PI. It was a crazy dream. It was like the opening sequence where Magnum holds the girl in the water and her bikini is in his face….You didn't watch Magnum PI, did you? Am I ah….babbling?"

Yeah and it was cute, the more she babbled the less direct I had to be …..But I wanted to be direct.

_**When something goes wrong I'm the first to admit it**__**  
**__**I'm the first to admit it And the last one to know**__**When something goes right its likely to lose me, mm**__**  
**__**Its apt to confuse me, Its such an unusual sight**__**  
**__**Oh, I cant, I cant get used to something so right, something so right**_**  
**  
"So you wanted to date a PI?" I was bracing for whatever she said. Could she be infatuated with the job, my car, my nature? I had heard enough from Josef, he always like to call me the "legend" among the freshies. In the twenty years of my heyday I had quite a few girls shipped off the wing. They got stuck on the idea of domesticating their vampire, that doesn't happen. The food does not corral the consumer.

"Oh, brother, you've painted me into a corner on this one-you want to park your ego for a minute? . . . . . . I wanted to date a good looking man. I had always dated OK guys; all my girlfriends had at least one boyfriend that was a looker. All my dates were OK; if they were nice they were just OK. The jackasses, the jerks, they looked like underwear models and I didn't get past the 2nd date, I gave up on handsome men…how's your ego handling that, Mr. St. John?"

"I'm not going to be able to get my head through the door if you keep heaping it high, Miss Turner….I just want you to know it's been pretty lonely these past few years" She hadn't any idea how many "For once it's nice to know I fascinated a damsel from afar."

"I figured if you couldn't pass the bookstore test I'd quit calling or quit answering your calls". She was pretty emphatic about the book store being her litmus test of dating.

_**They've got a wall in china its a thousand miles long**__**  
**__**To keep out the foreigners they made it strong**__**  
**__**And I've got a wall around me that you can't even see**__**  
**__**It took a little time to get next to me**_**  
**  
"So I passed the bookstore test?" I was sure there was some deeper meaning she was going to impart…"How did I do that, if I might ask?"

"You were a gentleman, you didn't lose yourself in the magazine section, you actually talked to me about books and finally you didn't try to feel me up in the stacks" Beth sounded like she had done a few bookstore tests prior to our date. "I do have a question….knowing what I know about your," and she hesitated, looking to me for guidance.

"Age, political leanings, color preferences, sign of the zodiac…." I was stringing her out. I wanted to hear it from her.

"Being what you are" Could she force herself to say it? There was a time when I couldn't.

"Un-dead? A Vampire? Can you say it with a straight face?" I asked her very quietly, as I was afraid of answers in this category of discussion.

"What's your preference? I mean there are Asian Americans, Native American, what does your group identify themselves as?" This was getting to one of those discussions?

"Beth, I'm a Vampire. I've been a vampire since 1952. I've never given any thought to what I was called. I never identified myself with the milieu; I don't want to be branded by the term." I hadn't wanted to turn romance into a civil rights discussion, even though we would be construed as a mixed couple in the Tribe's eyes. "All I want to know, Beth…I want to know if you want to know me better just because I'm a vampire? Could I be more than a boyfriend who is a vampire? When do I begin to be just your boyfriend?"

_**When something goes wrong I'm the first to admit it**__**  
**__**I'm the first to admit it and the last one to know**__**  
**__**when something goes right well it's likely to lose me, mm**__**  
**__**Its apt to confuse me because its such an unusual sight**__**  
**__**Oh, I can't, I can't get used to something so right, something so right**_

It got uncomfortable for a few minutes and she got that tight lipped look, the look that said there were no more answers right now. I excused myself to shower, pondering all the fears I had when I wandered into this. I stood with my head against the shower wall, the cold water beat at me. I was waiting for it to beat some sense into me. What part of love did I understand for Beth?

I understood that I loved her acceptance, her energy, her lush body and her openness to share it with me. I loved her vulnerability and her honesty to admit why she wanted to set up a date with me. I had to return her honesty because I felt a lot of the same reasons. I love a beautiful woman and when you consider her brains and personality she's a trifecta.

I shut off the water and dried off, thinking of how she had dragged herself up the stairs to get to me earlier. She's got a lot of moxie.

_**Some people never say the words I love you**__**  
**__**Its not their style to be so bold**__**  
**__**Some people never say those words I love you**__**  
**__**But like a child they're longing to be told, mm**_**  
**  
I walked into the bedroom and saw her sitting up in the bed, her arm on her knee, her head buried in her elbow. She was still, silent. No tears, all I could feel were her thoughts whirling inside her mind and heart. I felt some hurt, some confusion and so much love it moved me to her with a speed that frightened her.

"Beth" I looked into her china blue eyes, "You asked me if the word love scares me". She nodded and pushed her hair behind her ear with her good arm. I reached to the side with the broken arm and tucked her hair behind her ear. There she was, biting on the side of her bottom lip. Waiting for me to pull my head out of the sand.

"I was married once, and you know that. I told you the story. I trusted her and she took everything away from me, she tricked me in the cruelest way. I thought I loved her, it was just a sick fever – she was a compulsion to me. You've called me your boyfriend a couple of times; we've made some incredible love. I sense that you're genuinely excited to see me and I hope you feel my excitement, how much I want to be with you."

"Well how many men would pick up a girl at the ER after 4 dates?" she asked "I never expected you to stay that first night, bringing me here was a fantasy for me, to spend my waking hours around you. I was so hungry to catch your gaze, to know I was holding your attention, that you could help me so kindly. Mick, you're kind and above all else, you're lovable and so tender. It's all I can do to admit how much I feel for you so soon. I want us to give each other time to learn how to really love each other with our hearts." She asked for a gift I wanted so very much to give her.

I reached out to her and held her as best as I could while we sat up, I smoothly ran my thumb over her cheek and smiled with my entire body. I felt her steady heartbeat and smooth breathing and prayed for the time to prove all the facets of the love I feel for Beth.

"Beth, I have all the time in this world to show you how I truly can love you. If you feel you're running out of time, I can help you with that too."

_**When something goes wrong**__**  
**__**I'm the first to admit it, I'm the first to admit it**__**  
**__**And the last one to know**__**  
**__**When something goes right well its likely to lose me, mm**__**  
**__**Its apt to confuse me because its such an unusual sight**__**  
**__**I swear, I can't, I can't get used to something so right, something so right**_

**Part 3  
Avowed by Blood**  
Mick's POV:  
Beth seemed to accept that answer with neither of us bent on professing love as the weekend began.

"Mick" Josef clipped at me "A vampire's work is never done. Have you decided to let a few moths fly out of your wallet and pay for your groceries?"

"I thought I had 15 days" in truth I hadn't even looked at the invoice I shoved under the blotter in the office.

"Well, this is just a head's up, Dietrich gets the late accounts and he has you by about 60 pounds of muscle and 200 years. Any problems with the accounting?" He was so lighthearted…I was waiting for "how's the wife and kids" he gives the Asian markets right before he crawls down their throats.

"Hold on Josef, let me take a look" and I pulled the invoice out….

1 Massage $285.00  
7 Express Feeds $400.00  
5 Delivery Full Size Feeds $600.00  
3 Premium Single Feeds $500.00  
Amount due $7585.00  
Accounts past net 15 are assessed a 5% fee.

Holy mother of God, I could just imagine a month's invoice. I wondered what the monthly flat rate was and if I could afford to ask. I picked up the phone and whistled into it, "Josef, does this include my AARP discount?"

"Don't be droll, Mick. Do you think I discriminate based on age? You're not sucking dead blood from a plastic bag. These women live to provide you with the best. They are thoroughbreds" Josef was proud to emphasize his quality.

"Point taken, consider the bill paid in full. By the by, what's the monthly flat rate?" Might as well sit down for that answer.

"Boyo, if you avail yourself of that level of service you may never go back to the mansion services on the itemized plan" Did Josef sell burial plots part time?

"I'm you best friend, level with me, Josef". What a talker he was.

"This provides for live daily delivery by discrete means. Sliding scale by blood type." What a confident sales pitch.

"Ok, what's the price for A+?" and he laughed….

"Mick, when will you open your parameters?" Then Josef mumbled a number.

I asked him, "What? How much?" and he mumbled again. I thought I had misheard him, "Did you say $27,900.?" It was a blurt on my part, I was shocked at the cost. How discrete did you have to be? Am I drinking gold?

"Uhum, Mick that's A+"

"Josef for that amount of money I'll move to Utah and take 5 wives" I laughed at him, just to see his response.

"Mick, it didn't work in the 1800's and it won't work today….think about and let me know, OK? I'm your best source; you know my ladies are discrete, healthy and tasty. Now, let me get off the telephone, dessert is here".

"Good bye, Josef, I'll think about it" and his line went dead at "Josef".

Saturday Night, I though Beth was healing nicely. My feeding just a taste of my blood erased the bruises and loosened up her general stiffness. Now she was just froggy enough to hobble behind my back. I'd turn and I'd give her both raised eyebrows, she'd return with a lowered head and a shrug, I'd laugh and shake my head at her and she'd scoot back to her seat. I was throwing together a Caesar salad and broiling her a steak while music played softly.

"I'm feeling really good, is that offer to get out still on the table?" she sat at the dinner table as I served up her salad and poured us some wine.

"Depends on what you had in mind, no square dancing, you know". I brought the wine glasses to the table.

"You square dance?" she grimaced a bit.

"No, that's why I said, no square dancing". I sat with my wine and began sipping the Shiraz.

"I want you to eat with me tonight" her voice had the edge of a near demand.

"You know I don't eat"

"Eat, drink, feed" she threw up her hands "Whatever you call it. I don't want to be the only one pecking at food".

When I sat resolute she began to pout. I stood up and walked to the bar, opened the bottle of blood and pour a few drops in a double rocks glass, splashed some single malt scotch into it and brought it back to the table, "Cheers" I said raising the glass to her and swallowing half down. I thought….Beth, be careful what you wish for…you just might get it.

"Do you mind if I ask why you mix it like that?" she began picking at the bites of food.

"I drink; we drink for the burn, the sensation. Alcohol doesn't affect us" short clean answer I thought.

"Why the blood? It was blood you put in the glass, right?" My cool was upsetting her, rattling her.

"I put blood in it for taste".

"Otherwise it would just burn? No taste?" Beth, my little vampire school protégé was learning. And she was eating again, so I kept sipping at the scotch while she watched me with the red tinged liquid.

During the war when the patients were compliant and quiet we knew they were truly injured or ill. As they began to get antsy, pick and complain we knew they were well on the road to recovery. This was where Beth was…..she wanted to get the Velcro braces and splints off and scratch, she wanted to sit in a bath tub. I'd chalk some of it up to her age and general health when I know much of it was my blood, I shortened the recovery time considerably and now I was paying for the antsy attitude. Not that she was on my absolute last nerve, or even a nerve. Beth deserved a night out; she had spent the last week captive on the sofa with movies and her iPod.

"How about we swing by Josef's? You can visit with Simone while I play some cards with the guy" I thought, here's a change for a jailbreak of sorts. Her spirits picked up at the thought and I excused myself to check in with Josef.

"Hey, Josef, help me out" I asked when he pick up the call, Fleetwood Mac in the background.

"Mick, we don't make runs to the tar pits on Saturday nights" Josef plainly spoke, nonchalant smart ass that he was.

"Not that, damn it, Josef, I want to bring Beth over to visit Simone for a bit. I need to feed, and we both need out of the loft before she stakes me"

"Sure, I've got a little game starting at 11, I'll save you a seat", and he was off the line.

Beth did her garbage bag cover-up and got a shower, then I showered quickly and we left for Josef's estate.

"I'm sorry I'm snippy tonight" Beth apologized, reaching out to touch my hand on the seat next to me. I picked up her hand and kissed it at the traffic light. It was hard to stay mad at her. She looked like she was going to cry…..it really gets to me when kind women cry. I always walked the straight and narrow as a child…never wanting to break my Mom's heart, she was too kind and loving. Of course it never bothered me when Coraline turned on the waterworks, they were crocodile tears.

"Apology accepted, I didn't treat you cruelly, did I?" I was still learning how to be around another individual. I swung the car around the corner approaching the front gates at Josef's estate. The guard stayed inside the gate house and waved me through. I didn't recognize him as the gates swung open and we passed.

"No, I'm just sensitive, overly so, we're both new at this I guess" she kissed her fingers and reached out to touch my cheek. We were melting together again and I wanted to turn the car around and take us home. I should have.

Looking ahead I saw a strange vehicle in the drive, it was the one I saw Janus Alba step out of the other day. GMC Envoys were parked at the front and rear and I could sense guns and ammo, not a normal scent at Josef's.

"Beth, something's not right. I'm going to pull the car around and park behind those trees. Open the glove box, OK?" which she did as I directed the car into a copse of trees.

"You keep a gun in the glove box?" she was aghast.

"Doesn't Magnum?" I asked trying to seem aloof. "Do you know how to shoot?" I asked and she shook her head no. "OK, Beth. I'm taking the gun with me. Lie down and stay down, do not open the door for anyone. I'll be back for you." I tucked the gun into the back of my jeans and kept the overhead light off as I opened the car door. Moving in the dark I had the advantage over the hulked up pair at the door. Humans convinced their steroid induced bulk would overwhelm their prey. A good jump to the precipice near Josef's library got me where I could enter through a window and sniff my way to Josef and his visitors. I moved to where I could hear Janus's threats to keep a dead stage manager's murderer a secret. Josef was aloof, until the ape that I saw the other day walked in with Simone restrained in plastic cuffs and a washcloth in her mouth.

"You need to let her go" Josef requested calmly, "She's not involved" and they tossed her to Josef's feet, Simone silent with eyes screaming.

"Mr. Kostan, I dare say no one in this estate is…innocent. The decadence reeks, how many women do you need?" Evidently Janus was mortal and ignorant to boot. How did he get this far? I spotted a guard and got to him, snapping his neck and then I slipped him silently to the floor. I slung his weapon over my shoulder. I positioned myself to count the other armed men and swallowed hard when another ape walked in with Beth over his shoulder, tears running down her face from fear. I wanted to run to her and calculated the risk, two human women in the room, too many in rooms surrounding us. They probably had deadly ammunition loaded into their arsenal. Unceremoniously he dumped Beth next to Simone and Josef knew I was at large.

"The blond rode in with a man, he's missing at the moment, we're on the radio to locate him, sir". And the lackey took a step out of the room.

"Mr. Kostan, can you summon your friend, call him on his phone….get his attention. I do not like to waste beauty" and with that I made the move I now regret.

Please open a second window in YouTube to hear the soundtrack, Bleed to Love Her

**_Once again she steals away then she reaches out to kiss me__  
__and how she takes my breath away pretending that she won't miss me__  
__Oh I would bleed to love her, Bleed to love her; Oh I would bleed to love her__And once again she calls to me then she vanishes in thin air__  
__and how she takes my breath away, Pretending that she's not there__  
__Oh I would bleed to love her Bleed to love her Oh I would bleed to love her__Somebody's got to see this through All the world is laughing at you__  
__Somebody's got to sacrifice If this whole thing's going to turn out right__  
__Oh I would bleed to love her Bleed to love her Oh I would bleed to love her_**

**Part 4**

**Avowed by Words**

Mick's POV:

The View I had perplexed me. How could humans sneak up on vampires? Where was Josef's guard staff?

Janus didn't confront the subject of our nature, simply assaulted Josef's lush and decadent lifestyle. Who other than Hugh Hefner has a houseful of young attractive women? This fact offended Janus, was he jealous? I stood silently to assess us vs. them. 2 Vamps, 2 women, 4 armed men with body armor and 1 uber confident ring leader. 5 against 2, I think our odds stunk.

Was my tank a quart low? When I rushed to silently disable the man guarding the doorway I brushed a vase off a hall credenza. It fell and shattered to hundreds of shards announcing my intentions. Josef winced as the 4 bulky men rushed to the hall, weapons cocked. I had been lucky to jump and clutch at the heavily carved cornice work and in the dim light of the 16 foot ceilings they peered from side to side, never seeing who or what made the noise. It was the impetus for Janus and his lackey to bully Simone and Beth through the hall and out the front door to the town car. When I heard their destination I had wished I had stepped more carefully.

Janus stood in the doorway with a fist in Josef's chest, "It's just a matter of time before your friend is found. While we have all the chips we'll wait for his arrival. We have 14 of your women. We'll be in touch." With that comment I dropped the 16 feet and caught his neck in the crook of my elbow and held him breathtakingly tight.

"I'm here now, let the women go." I spun him around so he could see me eye to eye, my gun drawn against his heart. He stared at my silently. I took the time to speak to Josef on our vamp frequency.

"Where are Stavros and your crew? What the hell happened to the silent alarm?" I was gritting my teeth trying to keep from turning and revealing ourselves.

"Mick, I was sold out. Stavros told me he was doing an alarm test since we had just the 12 guests here tonight. I've just sent a signal up for the Cleaners, they should be here directly. So it's just us now"

"Then it's us, no police?" I asked gun still cocked on Janus.

**_I'd listen to the words he'd say but in his voice I heard decay__  
__the plastic face forced to portray all the insides left cold and gray__  
__there is a place that still remains it eats the fear it eats the pain__  
__the sweetest price he'll have to pay the day the whole world went away_**

"Just you and me buddy" Josef ran a tense hand thru his hair when suddenly Janus tried to escape my grasp. Janus's position maneuvered between Josef and me. With the sudden movement the gun went off, a straight shot right thru the bastard's heart. His heartbeat ceased immediately and I dropped him to the floor to see Josef's surprised expression as he clutched his chest, the blossom of crimson spreading across his crisp white dress shirt. The silver filled bullet had traveled clean thru Janus and about 6 feet further found a lethal home in Josef. So much for my choice of ammo.

I dropped the gun in horror and caught Josef before he hit the floor. My thoughts raced between calculating Josef's time on this earth and how to stop the 3 vehicles with the 14 women and 4 heavily armed apes. While I was gasping for inspiration I heard the frequency of the Cleaner convoy siren. I carried Josef to the couch; he could berate me once he survived this chain of events. I grasped at the decanter of fresh blood and held it to his mouth, listless lips gaping at the neck of the Waterford jug. That attempt was pointless.

"Josef, damn it, don't die on me, stay with me…stay for Simone…Damn it Josef blink for me" I searched for a knife on the bar and grabbed the serrated knife they had cut limes with earlier in the evening. I tore open his shirt and saw the burning circle of the silver as it emanated from the bullet hole. Knowing that the Cleaners would handle the criminal element I had to undo the poisoning I had done to Josef.

I grabbed the plastic bags from the bar garbage can and slipped my hands into them and taking the knife I cut a core of burning flesh from Josef's chest, I poured fresh blood into the flesh to flush the silver out. I turned him over to find the bullet nearly thru his back. He wasn't happy with my lack of finesse when I dropped him on his face to cut away the bullet and the poisoned skin in his back. I wasn't sure how far the silver had spread, I just knew I had cut the majority of it out and irrigated the flesh that it appeared to be healing very, very slowly. I rolled him back into the corner of the sofa and was able to communicate with him by his nods and moans.

"Josef, I need to check on the ladies, I'm going to get you more help, don't die man, don't die on me" I wailed holding his face in my hands…...

**_I'd listen to the words he'd say but in his voice I heard decay__  
__the plastic face forced to portray all the insides left cold and gray__  
__there is a place that still remains it eats the fear it eats the pain__  
__the sweetest price he'll have to pay the day the whole world went away  
_**  
The Cleaners had arrived and blocked in the three vehicles. Simone had recognized the leather clad women and knew to stand back, pulling Beth with her. The 12 Freshies scattered around the grounds, each finding their way to the "panic room" previously agreed on in emergency drills. This left the 4 thugs to the Cleaner's devices. Once shackled and contained the Cleaners began the search and recon of the dishonest vamps who sold Josef out tonight.

"Kendall, Josef needs medical treatment…he's been shot with a silver bullet….I've tried to get it…Please help us" I had run to her like a child with a fall off a bike. She raised a hand a summoned 2 staff to follow me with their crisis gear. She returned to the van where 12 Cleaners were assembling vampire recovery gear for their hunt for Stavros and his traitors.

I stood covered in Josef's blood, aimless, unsure of whether I should hold his hand and keep his attention or to attempt to keep Simone and Beth from hysteria. I sold the ladies short; when I left the medical crew with Josef I sniffed around to find Simone and Beth in the feeding alcove pressed close together and silent. I ran to both of them, certainly they had lived though more than they had expected on a Saturday night.

"What's happened to Josef? Simone cross examined me, getting the entire sequence of sad events in seconds, and then she flew to be with him.

"Beth, I wouldn't blame you if you ran like hell, I mean as soon as you can walk well enough" I held her, hoping she'd decline the "run like hell" idea. I picked her up and carried her back into the room where Josef was coming back to life. I knew he was healing when I heard him bitching about the sofa and the carpet where I had tossed the silvered flesh I had cut out of him.

Simone was with him on the sofa, offering her arm up for a cleansing bite. Beth and I walked in just as Josef scented her view, trailed it and bit into her. Beth startled at the vision of Simone's expression and she rocked back into me, frozen to watch the process. Even in Josef's weakened state he held Simone's wrist as a violinist held a Stradivarius, respectfully with love. Fingers splayed as the palm of his hand held her delicate pale wrist, his thumb there to complete the gentle grasp. His fangs descended slower that usual and the approach wasn't as forceful, yet his bite held all the wonder it ever had for Simone.

Beth's eyes opened wider as she saw Simone buckle and quiver through the feeding until Simone's orgasmic wail tapered to a whisper. Beth stepped back into me and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders, both of us voyeurs to Josef's erotic healing.

I picked Beth up and we went out to the patio, together we lay on the chaise. I didn't know what to say, we held each other while I stroked her hair….and she fell asleep in my arms.

Birds call at night in reaction to disturbance or predators, some birds only call at night. Was it any coincidence that as I held her I became attuned to throngs birds expressing their calls? Nary a song was heard, just the insistent chatter as they discussed the uproar. I wondered what the birds were saying about us.

Beth raised her head and stifled a yawn. I kissed her and hugged her again, hoping she wasn't scared out of her mind. She had every right to be.

"A penny for your thoughts" I asked, hoping she would be kind.

"nahuh, at least a quarter."

"Ok, how about I give you a five and you can talk all week?" I chuckled. "Are you making plans to have your girlfriend pick you up so you can run as far and as fast as she can take you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Tonight's little drama, you get kidnapped, tied up, I shoot my best friend…you know, all the insanity"

"Mick, have you any idea what I think of you? How hard it would be to run from you? I mean in the virtual sense because I really can't run anywhere right now" She shook her head. "I'm making no sense…..so it will be perfectly understandable when I tell you this"

I was bracing for anything, enjoying her body along mine.

"I went to Cedar Point with my cousins one year. They had a "Thors' Hammer" that swung back and forth over and over….it was OK until you figured out half way thru the ride the scary part was over. There was a Merry Go Round and it was beautiful, but it just went in circles and the music got boring. There was a wooden roller coaster, and it shook and it made noise and you had to be sure to tie all your sunglasses and hats down in the bag or lose them. I screamed the entire ride and had my eyes closed for a bit of it. I got off and went back in line to do it again."

OK, I thought, where is this going?

"When I got older I realized that I wanted to be a roller coaster person…..and all the guys I met were Thor's Hammer or Merry Go Around guys. Mick, you're a roller coaster guy, 100% through and through and I'm getting back in line to go around some more." She was grinning with tears streaking down her cheeks. "Mick, I am beginning to love you…."

**To Be Continued in the series Love, Out Loud. Parts 1-4**


	6. Chapter 6 LOVE OUT LOUD

Love, Out Loud,

Rated: R  
Categories: Alternate Universe Characters: Beth, Josef, Mick, Original  
Challenges:  
Series: None  
Chapters: 4 Completed: Yes  
Word count: 8472 Published: August 24, 2009

**Love, Out Loud, **

**Part 1  
**  
Love, noun  
1. A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.  
2. A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.  
3. Sexual passion or desire.

Out loud, Idiom  
aloud; audibly: I thought it, but I never said it out loud. Just whisper, don't speak out loud.

Mick's POV:

Beginning to love me? How does one know the beginning of love? I can easily identify the end of love.

Going into the Army Bev promised me regular post cards, and I got them, drenched in "Evening in Paris" tattooed with a kiss in the latest lipstick color for about 10 weeks. Then when I really needed them they stopped. I got an envelope about 3 weeks later from Bev's Mother explaining Bev had taken up with Eddie Jennings, a guy with flat feet and a 1939 Ford. That loved cooled off quick.

Returning from WWII, I was wounded and hurting for Lila, Ray's wife. Ray and I went off together with the vow that we'd watch out for each other. I came home alone, feeling guilty to Lila for getting separated from Ray when we were both wounded.

Lila wilted under the burden of losing her job at the aircraft assembly plant and losing her childhood sweetheart, Ray. We consoled each other with lemonade on the front porch until our loss drew us together one day while I was fixing the back steps. Our days consisted of me conspicuously calling around 11am with my toolbox. We "work on the house" until about 1 or so and then eat lunch on the front porch.

Then some days we'd actually get something done in the house and break for a siesta around 3 or 4pm. She found me exciting after a stint in Europe, I found her comforting and lush in her redhead's freckled flesh. Within a week I understood Ray's swagger and confidence. Any man who could please and tame this woman was a fortunate man, and I counted myself exceptionally fortunate.

Our fortune was doused with a telegram one day. It was fitting that we had just concluded an earth shaking session in bed when there was a knock at the door. Lila threw on her house dress and ran downstairs while I viewed the government auto from behind the drapes in the master bedroom upstairs.

I remember thinking, how can a man die twice? When I heard Lila's wail of excitement and joy, a part of me died. Ray was alive, lost his dog tags in some little hospital overseas. He was due home within the month to be kept at the local VA hospital until he could get his therapy completed as they hoped to get him out of the wheelchair he currently occupied. That love was doused with a big dose of reality.

Coraline's love, let's not even go there. My love ended when I woke up in my own blood, blinded by the morning sun.

I've sought the glow of love and been rebuffed rather dramatically each time. For someone to know it was the beginning of their love for me was different, refreshing, fascinating. Would it be unbearable to enjoy Beth's company? Would it be unbearable to be loved even if it's just a year or six months or a month?

We had stayed on at Josef's after the pandemonium ended in the early morning hours of Sunday. The four of us were getting to be the Flintstones and Rubbles of the LA…or so I Iiked to joke with Josef, only he wanted to be Fred and I explained Fred had the dark hair…. Sometimes Josef is a poor loser. By Sunday evening Josef was joking about the cutlery selection at his bar.

"If I had known you'd be doing surgery I'd have bought better Knives…honestly Mick, don't consider Surgery as your next career, you have one hell of a bedside manner"

"What?" I asked as I threw my hands up in the air, we all laughed as Josef was 100% healed and no worse for wear.

"I could have sworn you laughed as you flipped me over to pull the bullet out of my back" He grimaced facetiously, clutching his chest as he poured another pair of scotches and added a few drops of blood to each. He held up the wine bottle to the ladies and they held their glasses up for refills.

"Josef, if it hadn't been for Mick's quick thinking, you'd be 6 feet under, Mick saved your life with that surgery" Simone reminded him as he sat down, patting him on the thigh as Josef grinned and moved her hand closer to his crotch.

"Right, Simone, Mick saved my life directly after he shot me with a bullet full of silver" Mock astonishment took over while he played the 3 of us for every emotion available. Josef was the center ring in ANY 3 ring circus.

I could see the Vampire healing process was a bit of a mystery to Beth. There she sat with her Velcro contraptions while Josef was hale and hearty.

"You certainly look great for someone shot in the chest less than 24 hours ago"

Josef raised an eyebrow and his glass and agreed "I most certainly do".

At my request Beth allowed me to drive her to her checkup. I sat reading healthcare magazines while Beth was put thru 20 questions with the Orthopedist. When the door opened she was flashing a 1000 watt smile as she limped out with a cane and less cumbersome gear on her arm and leg.

"You make one crack about this cane and I will figure out if the end is sharp" She giggled as she stood face to face with me and hugged me.

"You look fantastic, you've really bounced back getting out of the chair" I hugged her and we split to begin walking out of the medical building.

"The Doctor said he never saw anything like it, he was expecting me to be in pretty bad shape and I am off the charts in my healing." As we walked she looked at me and narrowed her eyes, "this is like Josef's recovery, isn't it" The blood you gave me the other night. The blood did this didn't it?" She was whispering by now and her eyes were flashing at the excitement of her discovery. All I would do was nod silently at her deduction.

When we got into the car she hooked her seatbelt and immediately started with questions.

"You cut out the flesh that was damaged and it regenerated when he fed, or whenever you poured blood into it. The blood is your life" She was on a roll now, putting together all the details she had lived with over the past couple of weeks.

"That's why Simone was with him. What was happening when we walked in, Mick?" she hadn't put the final thrill of it all together.

"Simone was feeding Josef" I checked my mirrors and started the car, pulling into traffic I was waiting for Beth's response.

"Feeding?" she was incredulous, " I thought she was having an orgasm, I've never seen another woman like that, I mean I thought we had walked in on them celebrating that he was OK…"

"Josef was healing quicker because he was feeding fresh from the vein." I hesitated to add more and her expression goaded me. "Feeding a vampire can be a very stimulating experience. I am told it can be every bit as stimulating as an orgasm if the Vampire is good at how he feeds." I tried to be clinical.

"Are you good at it?" she asked softly.

Please open a second window to hear the soundtrack, El' Debarge - All This Love

.com/watch?v=cVaSbXfCzAM

_I had some problems and no one could seem to solve it but you found the answer __  
__You told me to take this chance and learn the ways of love my baby and all that it had to offer __  
__In time you will see that love won't let you down._

We arrived at Beth's apartment and pushed open the door into the stale air. I walked from room to room opening the windows and pulling the shades to keep out the heat and light. Beth was stacking her mail and waving off dust from the kitchen island. Beth was returning to work tomorrow, driving the rental car they were delivering later today. I convinced her to get off her leg and heated up the Chinese food we brought home. I fixed the tray and brought it over to the sofa for her and I poured a scotch for me while she ate.

"So I want to know, are you good at it?" She had a cute habit of cocking her head when she asked persistent questions.

"We've done it a few times, what do you think?" I was deflecting the feeding question, she wasn't well enough to think about it and I had my source. I like separation of church and state if you will.

"Mick, do I sense some pushback on the subject of a woman feeding her vampire?" She waved chopsticks at her neck while she chewed.

"No, it's just that Simone began her relationship with Josef as his food. Some vamps like to play with their food, Simone and Josef date now. I do not play with my food, I just dine and dash". I wanted to make light of it…..Dining and dashing, yeah that was lighthearted enough.

"Josef had a few other young women there…..are those girlfriends too?" She didn't seem to like that at all by her facial expression.

"No, they are food." Just as plain as I could spin it….I figured this would be the break point for "beginning to love me".

"Do all of them feel like Simone when they feed?" she was building her reference points….

"The orgasm?" I wanted to be clear about her question.

"Right, I guess what I really want to know is if your food comes after it arrives?" and she ripped off an uproariously loud laugh, putting her hand out in front of her and shaking her head, "I'm sorry…all I could think of was sayings like "Fast Food" if they are sexy and "Not so Fresh" if they were tired…I think this is all kind of incredible, I'm still adjusting to it, you know?" she was the one begging understanding and it made me soften up to smile with her.

"With some couples it is exceptionally erotic," I didn't mind her knowing, just didn't want her to feel rebuffed right now "it's not something for the ill or injured. Josef takes very good care of all his staff. They are well fed, they get their exercise and they are healthy."

Beth listened intently as she finished her takeout and set it on the coffee table. Sitting back on the sofa she picked as the fuzz caught in her Velcro arm brace.

"Is that why the sex with you is so hot?" Beth was evading my eyes, as if she felt guilty for enjoying it.

"I was hoping you like my ….ah...technique, but yeah, my being a vamp is a big part of it. When I bite it just pushes it over the top." There she was, privy to the bedroom secrets of the undead.

"So, when I'm completely better would you consider… just consider feeding from me?"

"Beth, when you are all healed; there is nothing I look more forward to than taking you up on your offer. It would be a rush for me to carry your blood within me, it would bring us closer" so I drew her closer to let her know how honored and excited her offer made me.

You said that you loved me, said hurt only came to pass it sounded so convincing that I gave it half a chance  
And learned the way of love my babe and all that it has to offer  
And all that I have I give my all to you all, all my love my babe, say you want me at your place tonight  
And all this love is waiting for you my baby, all this love is waiting for you so much love, so much

"Mick, I know I don't have a freezer here…could you stay with me tonight? Would there be any chance you could stay awhile?"

The room got really quiet and her heartbeat sang to me…she was healing and we were melting together again after a weekend of improbable events and mortal uncertainty.

I picked Beth up, just for the sake of romance and carried her into her bedroom, where I first stood watch over her fresh from the accident.

I lay her gently down and drew closed the French doors. The neighbors didn't have to hear this….

_I had some problems …..__  
__No one could seem to solve it you. . . . .you. . . you . . . . . found the answer __  
__So I gave it half a chance and learned the way of love my babe there is so much love inside me___

_And all that I have I give my all to you…babe all, all my love___

_All this love is waiting for you…__  
__Say it again…All this love is waiting for you…___

_Hear me when I say it babe__  
__Say you really love me baby, Say you really love me darling__  
__Oh, I really love you babe, Oh, I really love you darling___

_Say you really love me baby, Say you really love me darling__  
__Oh, I really love you babe, Oh, I really love you darling___

_Say you really love me baby, Say you really love me darling__  
__Cause I really love you darling, Sure I really love you darling__  
__And all this love it waiting for you…._

**Part 2**  
Mick's POV  
I have to admit tonight all I wanted was horizontal time with Beth, smothering myself in her cleavage and feeling the warm draft of her breath over me. I had to hesitate and prepare Beth for another vampire fact of the undead, my next feeding.

"We had that feeding conversation earlier today; did you have any reservations about it?" I asked as we cuddled on the sofa, I had lay back lengthwise against the arm of the sofa and held her into my chest between my legs, we were tight and so comfortable I hated the thought of moving.

She looked up and back at me, "Will I ever get to watch you feed? I mean I kind of jumped at seeing Simone and Josef and I didn't immediately understand it…..it was a blur I was a little embarrassed."

"If you think it would help you understand me, I could arrange it. Rather than for me to leave to feed, did you want to have me have my meal delivered"? This was a first for me….feeding fresh and now having "Take out" at my girlfriend's place.

Josef's staff handled the arrangements along with a Vampire chaperone for Melinda, one Riley Chambers.

Melinda graciously shook Beth's hand and introduced herself and Riley. Beth seemed a bit affected by the couple, they looked so, so….young, attractive and "normal".

Riley, a tight looking body builder type was a former Pennsylvania farm boy until July 3rd, 1863. You didn't need home gym to build a strong body when you plowed a field strewn with boulders behind a dray horse. When the engagement at the High Water Mark was finished, Riley was left as a casualty in a ditch stacked with the dead and dying. Riley had caught the eye of a field surgeon who had the knack of bestowing "the gift" when he thought the recipient would welcome it. Riley then assisted the Physician an angel of the battle fields, walking into impossible situations and retrieving the injured. Together they valiantly faced the inhumanity of brother against brother until the Civil War ended and they traveled west to find their fortunes. Riley's incarnation as a big brother to the Freshie staff was a welcome addition for the girl's peace of mind and most of all, Josef trusted him with his ladies.

Riley and I forged our early friendship based on our battlefield discussions, between the Civil War and WWII there were many painful similarities. We are kindred spirits in so many ways. He was a bit perplexed by the request…..I wanted him to sit with Beth while she watched Melissa feed me.

"Whatever you want old man, it's O.K. with Melinda and its not dangerous so go for it. Any recommendations if she starts asking questions? Anything you want me to stay away from?" Riley called all of us Feeders, "old man", even though he had me by 100 years or so. Riley set up two of the chairs to the side of the sofa and dimmed the lights, although the Victorian room had its own aura I doubt it had ever held a feeding vampire and spectators.

I stood as Melinda approached and took her hand we sat down together on the sofa, her on my right side. She turned to face me and placed her arm along the back of the sofa, barely touching me. She extended her right arm and I gently took her wrist, cradling it less poetically than Josef did, showing Beth a more utilitarian feeding style. I scented Melinda finding her relaxed and ready for my bite.

The copper scent traveling under her skin enticed my change, pulling my nature to the fore. Eyes iced blue, fanged fully extended I heard a gasp and a jump from Beth. Melinda was unmoved by the sounds, my right arm pulled Melinda close and she finally embraced my shoulders for support. Poised for the strike our eyes met and Melinda smiled her readiness. I struck and held, catching the first mouthful, rolling it over my tongue and swallowing smoothly. Her composure kept her silent and still as I could feel the trancelike state inside her. I had taken a good bit and felt sated before I ever had to listen for her heart to slow. She's a strong one, fully developed in her flavor by her healthy lifestyle and exceptional nutrition. I thought I caught the taste of really fine chocolate with the mix of cinnamon and nutmeg. Those flavors were as satisfying as the blood that carried them to me. I withdrew and licked at the two small wounds. My control was excellent, barely a mark would be left on her by tomorrow night. I whispered, "Thank-you, Melinda" and stepped away, covering her with the afghan and turning off the light next to the sofa.

The shadows of Beth and Riley a few feet away revealed Beth's wide eyed expression and Riley placidly sitting with his arms folded over his chest. Beth rose to join me and for the very first time felt warmth coming off my skin, compliments of Melinda. She saw my pallor replaced with almost a glow. As quickly as she could move, Beth rushed to me holding me close, pressing herself against me, "Oh, Mick that was …..Oh, I don't know I can't describe it, it was so sensual".

"You weren't jealous, were you?" I asked….

Beth's POV:

When Mick started "We had that feeding conversation earlier today; did you have any reservations about it?" we were so comfortable on the sofa, I lay against his chest between his legs, his thighs were close to me and so comfortable. I didn't want to go anywhere.

Then there was the chance to see something unique, a vampire feeding on my sofa. Not just a vampire, but to have Mick feed and allow me to watch absolutely thrilled me. I jumped at it, "Will I ever get to watch you feed? I mean I kind of jumped at seeing Simone and Josef and I didn't immediately understand it…..it was a blur I was a little embarrassed."

With my request he arranged it for me to be with him, here as he fed. I knew it was different for him having "Take out" at my place.

I met Riley and Melinda and they looked like a normal couple you'd bump into at an Auto Show or a Mall. She was dinner and he was her body guard and driver. I waited as the three of them seemed to move about preparing the room, preparing themselves for what I was about to watch. .

Mick, always the gentleman, stood as Melinda approached and took her hand. Such a gentle beginning to something I envisioned as raw. I watched them position themselves on my sofa; like I was going to watch them make out…..She turned to face him and barely touched him. When Mick took her wrist it was much less endearing than the way Josef did for Simone. Where Josef's was regard and feelings….this was food.

Then he changed, all of a sudden and I shuddered slightly, covering my mouth as my eyes flew open wider. Mick's eyes went so cold; his face seemed whiter, paler and harsh. When he parted his beautiful lips, extended fangs glistened with his saliva. I could not contain a gasp then I held my breath. They were unmoved - Melinda was still, waiting as their eyes met and Melinda smiled and nodded.

Then, like nothing I had ever seen in any vampire movie or on TV, Mick clamped his mouth around her wrist. Not her throat! I watched his jaw clench and the muscles in his throat as they drew the blood out of her, never spilling a drop. I saw his lips as they worked her flesh and I wanted those lips on me. There I sat getting warm and wet just thinking of how it must have felt for her…..I wanted him over me with those eyes; I wanted him in me with those fangs.

They moved in reaction to each other, smoothly in some outwardly silent beat. She was silent as her eyes seem to register the extreme feeling as he drew on her. Then he released her wrist from his mouth, his fangs receding as his eyes went from the icy to a glassy hazel and then to his beautiful hazel green grey. Mick licked at the two small wounds that I could barely see. Then he whispered something and covered her with the afghan and turned off the sofa table light.

I wanted to bolt from the shadows to him…..As I wrapped my arms around him he was warm and sweet and everything I've sought in a man, the furthest thing from a fable or a piece of fiction. All I could was press myself against him, "Oh, Mick that was …..Oh, I don't know I can't describe it, it was so sensual". Words felt inadequate. Then he asked me….if I was jealous…..I wasn't jealous was I?

Mick's POV:

Riley excused us while he sat with Melinda, touching to check her heart rate and general condition. He smiled at us as we entered Beth's bedroom to talk….

"Mick, that was so spiritual, I wanted to be her….so much…." She appeared as though she were going to swoon just from watching.

"You understand why they have to be in top physical form, right? It's like giving blood, although I probably don't take a while pint." I wanted her to understand why I couldn't even play at biting her.

She almost seemed to pout that it would be weeks or months before we could share the experience. I held her and promised her we'd have this time soon. She was practiced at pouting and she lay back on the bed with a heavy lidded expression. "What would happen if you fed me a bit more of your blood….would I get completely better?"

Your connection for their soundtrack: Rod Stewart, You Go To My Head

.com/watch?v=Ruc-4w3ofTs

_You go to my head and you linger like a haunting refrain__  
__And I find you spinning 'round in my brain like the bubbles in a glass of champagne___

_You go to my head like a sip of sparkling Burgundy brew__  
__And I find the very mention of you like the kicker in a julep or two__  
_

Mick's POV:  
The very thought of poising my wrist over Beth's mouth gave me an instant hard on. She fact that she asked to be healed just to feed me was the biggest turn on I have ever had. I was experiencing the flush from the feeding and the rush from her adoration and generosity. All that conversation was rushing my senses. Reading Melinda's feelings while I fed, feeling Beth's request and knowing it was genuine….I was about to spin out to that place that causes men to build things like the Taj Mahal and other lasting edifices to a mortal union.

I excused myself from her embrace and checked on Riley and Melinda. They were gathering themselves and preparing to leave. Leaning on Riley, Melinda smiled and whispered….."You must really love her…" and with that I realized that if they thought I did, my feelings weren't an empty infatuation.

_The thrill of the thought that you might give a thought to my plea__  
__Cast a spell over me__  
__Still I say to myself get a hold of yourself__  
__Can't you see that it never can be___

_You go to my head with a smile that makes my temperature rise__  
__Like a summer with a thousand Julys you intoxicate my soul with your eyes___

_Though I'm certain that this heart of mine__  
__Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance you go to my head___

_The thrill of the thought that you might give a thought to my plea__  
__Cast a spell over me still I say to myself get a hold of yourself__  
__Can't you see that it never can be___

_You go to my head with a smile that makes my temperature rise__  
__Like a summer with a thousand Julys you intoxicate my soul with your eyes__  
__Though I'm certain that this heart of mine__  
__Hasn't a ghost of a chance in this crazy romance__  
__You go to my head, you go to my head, you go to my head_

**Part 3**  
Mick's POV:

_The rope that's wrapped around me is cutting through my skin__  
__And the doubts that have surrounded me are finding their way in__  
__I keep it close to me like a holy man prays In my desperate hour it's better, better that way_

Doubt. Five Letters that may trump a myriad of even your best efforts; in my head I flipped through the calendar and counted the weeks with Beth.

When I made the first date with Beth Turner I had my doubts that she would be a woman that would run right alongside me, that she could enjoy occupying the odd orbit of a recovering Vampire.

_So I'll come by and see you again I'll be such a very good friend__  
__Have mercy on my soul I will never let you know where my mind has been_

Day by day layers of my dark experiences peeled away, allowing us to reveal smoother, softer sides to each other. In the last week I had precious few moments alone. Work was crammed into stolen moments or when Beth was asleep. I was spending less freezer time than usual and burning the vampire at both ends. Still I was controlled and feeding well, recognizing newer, fresher senses and new levels of acuity. When Beth did get cabin fever it resulted in a trip to Josef's and he's still whining about the shirt I ruined with the bullet.

I sent Riley and Melinda away while I rode the crest of a feeding high along with the realization that Beth was mine and I was hers. Beth had shared she was excited that Melinda's blood would warm me and humanize my touch. She saw the sparkle in my eyes and realized the rush I had experienced in feeding, how the vampire's body responds to living blood.

Now Beth had seen an erotic post emergency feeding at Josef's as well as a platonic feeding within feet of her. While she silently moved between the bedroom and bathroom a million thoughts rushed my heart as I closed up the apartment. Standing at the kitchen island I caught a peek of Beth, on the bed in sheer white peasant style night gown, the elastic neckline pulled low on her shoulders. Her blond bob danced at her neck as she smiled and adjusted the ruffles on the sleeves. The low lights of the candle wall sconces flickered and cast the romantic aura of our anticipation.

_Angels never came down there's no one here they want to hang around __  
__But if they knew, if they knew you at all then one by one the angels, Angels would fall_

There she was, her tiny pink tongue escaped while she bit and licked her bottom lip. I walked toward her casting off my clothes piece by piece until I'm sitting on what I consider my side of the bed. It's been a long time since I've had a side of the bed, even for recreational purposes. I was feeling warm, yet the air was prickling the hair on my arms, causing a delightful sensation. I caught the siren's song of her beating heart, her rushing blood and her lungs drawing and expelling the air that fuels her vitality. Hearing the in and out of her breath I wanted to join into her rhythm just for the sake of unity. After I removed my shoes and socks and jeans I lay back and swung my legs onto the bed, leaning my elbow on the pillow and reaching out to touch her cheek. There she was my healing little bird, pink faced and waiting.

_I've crept into your temple I have slept upon your pew__  
__I've dreamed of the divinity inside and out of you__  
__I want it more than truth I can taste it on my breath__  
__I would give my life just for a little, a little death*_

Beth looked at my striped silk boxers and grinned, "Nice…..do you have them in every color?" I shook my head and I guess my seriousness woke up an idea she had been holding.

"Would you do it, Mick? Would you feed me that I could heal?" I sensed a desire to have the injury gone…..

"Beth, are you asking or are you wondering if I would? "I needed to be clear before taking further steps.

"I guess either or both… If I wasn't hurt we could enjoy each other a whole lot more, I could get back to school easier….." She volunteered.

I realized I wouldn't have my visitor either. My angel had brought me around…..my last delusion was that I had been a guardian angel, was this a delusion that she was my guardian angel?

I do not want to rebuke my nature; I'm not seeking the mask or the cure or whatever we called it. I am relishing the path that is exploring my nature, harnessing it, controlling it, directing it for our benefit. I snapped back into the conversation, realizing I had zoned out thinking about us.

"Beth, I'm not sure how much to give you…..I don't want to hurt you or cause you any additional discomfort" It was a metaphor for our budding relationship….I didn't know how much to give without hurting or scaring her.

"Mick, we don't know each other as much as we want to, we've got these crazy cravings for each other and I am sure opening up to me has been a supreme act…..I have nothing near your secrets to share" She drew up her shoulders and shrugged them. "I don't want to wrestle things out of you, I want to take on your terms….whatever those terms are. "

That's when I felt the urge to up the ante, move a bit further. I crawled closer to her, taking in a full breath of her allure, I reached out to cradle her in my arms and nuzzle in her hair, feel more of her feelings before I made a move.

I had made the effort to feed so that I could share my blood with her….I didn't know she'd be asking for it so soon, that we were like minded. I whispered, "Would you be ready tonight, for more?" her eyes met mine and she whispered a "yes".

I bit my left wrist and started the flow, just a few drops before the puncture holes closed, she caught them tongue out, open mouthed, eyes closed. Her body shivered and she sighed. We kissed disregarding my blood on our lips, she opened her mouth again and I bit my wrist, this time I held it to her mouth as she sucked from my wrist like a fledgling. Her lips on my wrist kept the flow open longer, giving both of us near orgasms. The waves of shared emotions over took us and we rolled to face each other, her hands on my wrist still drawing from me. I grinned at the sensation and bid her to stop. She licked at the closing holes, consuming every drop.

"Are you sure you're not hiding something from me, Beth Turner? You've got the moves down pretty well….." she blushed at my insinuation and licked her lips.

"Maybe we were meant for each other?" she blushed as she exercised her dimples, kissing the end of his nose and nestling into his chest.

"I have no doubt ….." I whispered as we lay back, looking at each other….

I was watching for signs of significant healing, and she lay silent and smiling while her body processed my blood. I've seen stop action photography show a blooming rose, it didn't capture Beth's relief and relaxation. Within the next 20 or 30 minutes she seemed to lengthen in her release from the pain and tension.

I tried to remember human anguish and felt dull; the memory wasn't there when I reached for it. I could see her happiness and her relief.

"I want these off," she said yanking at the Velcro straps on the arm splint and chucking it aside she shook out her arm, all scaly and dry. She rubbed the length to get the circulation going and scratched. I reached for the series of straps on her leg and she lay back watching me crawl around her. I began a devilish series of laughs and she wagged a finger at me. "Are you having prurient thoughts Mr. St John?"

"I'm thinking you haven't had a bubble bath in over a week and that you would love to have your back washed and that I can be a great back washer"

"Do you have references for washing fronts too? I mean if you only do backs…I'll have to deal with it,,,," there was that Beth pout.

I rubbed the soft washcloth over the length of her leg, just a week and it looked whiter and thinner. I carefully scrubbed the flakes off and gently massaged her leg, feeling the bones straight and healed. I caught Beth's arms and did the same series of movements to feel its restoration. When we were done I wrapped her in the big white bath sheet and carried her back to bed. She was pink and giggling as she climbed under the sheets, enticing me to join her.

Please open a second window and enjoy the soundtrack : Melissa Etherege, Angels Would Fall

.com/watch?v=eC8FfGvCFho

We rolled to face each other and had the craziest smiles on our faces. Beth ran the flat of her palm along my chest and woke up every hair. I wanted to take her slowly and we were in sync. The loll of her mouth on my nipples told me we were in no hurry, and I returned the favor with kisses in the crook of her elbow.

Silently we traded favors, I caressed her curly mound with my fingers while she wrapped a hand around my erection, stroking around and off the end only to return to the base and begin again. We arched toward each other, hips to hip while we sighed together. The slow caresses never picked up speed…..they were far too pleasant to rush. The world could have ended and we would have rallied on….

Her temperature was rising, her breast flushing with an orgasmic wash of color. I went on the feverish pursuit of her taste and I kneeled to slide her closer to me, licking short strokes, I had her attention 100%. Slowly I brought her to climax, softly and gently, an irony for the undulations her body generated when she came moaning my name throughout. I crawled up between her lithe, long legs, thinking of how good they feel when they are wrapped around my waist; she lay beneath me wet and wanting.

Silent permission asked, silent permission given in the secret dance of lovers thru the ages. I entered her, my body raised up on the palms of my hands as I dipped down and pulled up stroking deeply her moist tightness. We lasted for so long, taking it slow, stretching each stroke with her pushing up to me. When I had her spinning into white lights I lowered my lips to her perfect breasts and chose the one over her heart….sounding the ideal moment when we both let go, I bit and drew just a spot or two of her excitement. We sailed home together, as if on a black sea in the perfect moonlight.

Her face-a portrait of complete satisfaction sang to me….. She is the only sun I can tolerate and I need her to brighten my dark world.

_So I'll come by and see you again I'll be just a very good friend__  
__I will not look upon your face I will not touch upon your grace your ecclesiastic skin___

_Angels never came down there's no one here they want to hang around but if they knew__  
__If they knew, knew you at all then one by one the angels, Angels would fall, sweet angels___

_I'll come by and see you again and I'll have to be a very good friend__  
__If I whisper they will know, I'll just turn around and go, you will never know my sin___

_Angels never came down there's no one here they want to hang around __  
__but if they knew, If they knew you at all, then one by one the angels, angels would fall___

_there's no one here they want to hang around, But if they knew, If they knew you at all __  
__Then one by one the angels, Angels would fall__  
__Angels, Angels will fall._

**Part 4**  
Mick's POV:  
April 8th, 2008, between 3-5 A.M.

I knew Beth was ready to be cut loose. I couldn't leave her in the daylight, when she would be awake, when she could ask me to stay with her eyes and her lips and her arms. I had to slide out while the only sound was that of newspaper carriers launching the first edition onto doorsteps. I took sheet of paper from her printer and left her a note.

_Dear Beth:  
It's time to be a good patient and fly back to real life, doesn't that just stink?  
We play house nicely, so don't be a stranger…..call me after dusk, OK? I want to hear about your first day back!  
Love,  
Mick  
PS Are you going to hobble around and fake it or going to admit you heal fast?_

I kissed her gently as she slept soundly, hugging the pillow I left. She slept on her left side, her right knee pulled up almost to her elbow. One look at her thigh and my eyes followed the curve to the back of her fine, fine fanny and the cleft of deep rosy flesh and blonde fluff. She held our scent there like a secret cachet, I inhaled deeply and drew the flavor in the air and left her for the day. I needed some intense freezer time after the last week.

Peace came to me in frozen confines and silence.

In the last week my vamp senses had been overworked filtering humans and their world. No wonder we escape, building our nest far away from the beat of their hearts and the sounds of their chatter. Cell phones, the buzz of music from iPods, car radios, car horns. To escape all that is to slow the decay our dead bodies, lessen the need to feed. I felt like Josef's bank balance when I rose about 6. I slid into my office chair and began answering emails and returning business calls. There on the edge of the desk sat the file that started everything. I picked it up and regarded my single sheet and the police report. Then the phone rang.

"Mickey, my man," Josef's long draw on my name implied this would be a long call. I lay the file down and put my feet up on the desk to let him roll.

"Yes, Josef….I live for calls that start like this" sarcasm was a free service I included for Josef.

"Hmnnnn, your situation change since I last saw you? YOU LIVE?" Of course Josef felt sarcasm should be offered daily

"Remember the scene from 300, damn Gerard looked fine in that underwear, well you know the scene where he kicked the guy into the pit?" Josef seemed to enjoy that a bit too much.

"Am I assuming you believe yourself to be Lionides?" I asked, thinking mm, I about to take a push?

"Well it seems that when the Cleaners were done here the other night they ended up with quite a body count. Seems we cut the entire cancer out. My ears in the DA's office hear the case is closed"

"Is Simone's family satisfied with the explanation?" knowing full well Simone would be sworn to secrecy about the adventure at Kostan Manor….

"They haven't been asked for a public response, so they are just letting it subside. It seems that the local news hasn't been looking to pull any curtains back, so we'll leave it at that. Speaking of pulling back curtains….I heard that opening night you got some good reviews…." He got close to the phone as if this was confidential. "Riley told me you and Melinda gave a little performance last night, how'd that work out, you get a standing ovation or a curtain call later?"

"Josef, don't you own a production company or someone who can supply some entertainment, did you need to know the details?"

"You know Riley; he was a bit taken with watching Beth watch you" Josef's lilt in his voice changed mid sentence as my chest began to rumble.

"Point taken, say no more, Mick, your secret's safe with me. She likes to watch" I rumbled a bit more as he drabbled on. The call closed and I was left recalling the memory of taking Beth so silently and sweetly, now I was missing her again. Expectantly waiting for her call, I turned to the window to gauge dusk's coming.

The folder, sat there from before the phone call, it prodded me to wonder if I was misguided, taking up with a woman introduced in such strange circumstances.

_**Some would call it fate; others might call it mental illness…..  
Was I going off on a tangent born of my last delusion?  
Was I bounding from delusion to delusion?  
If I had looked far enough could I find love with someone other than a Beth Turner?  
If her name wasn't Beth Turner would I be equally smitten?**_

_When the one thing you're looking for is nowhere to be found__**  
**__And you back stepping all of your moves trying to figure it out__**  
**__You wanna reach out, You wanna give in_

Oh, the twisted questions poured out of me after that…..Was I her dream date because of my fangs, was she a vampire voyeur, a fangbanger? God I thought that term was priceless…who writes this stuff?

Our soundtrack is: Jonathan Rhys Meyers-August Rush / Something Inside

.com/watch?v=LOO2N1mwD8o

_Your heads wrapped around what's around the next bend__  
__You wish you could find something warm cause you're shivering cold_

What was I sure of? I was sure of Serendipity, the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

_Its the first thing you see as you open your eyes__  
__The last thing you say as your saying goodbye__  
__Something inside you is crying and driving you on  
_  
I am banking on the truth that everyday people meet and make relationships out of the shallowest decisions. Maybe a guy always wanted a redhead, and the girl is brilliant and they get to know each other and fall in love when he discovers she colors her hair….He still loves her, even though the red isn't real.

_Its the first thing you see as you open your eyes__  
__The last thing you say as your saying goodbye__  
__Something inside you is crying and driving you on___

_'Cause if you hadn't found me__  
__I would have found you, I would have found you_

Am I trying to convince myself that Beth could love me? No….I am going to let her show me, one day at a time. I take the 1985 Turner file and purposely walk it to the trash can, pull out the bag and carry the whole contents to the trash chute in the hall. Down a few floors and it will incinerate with the rest of the garbage. I am done dealing with a Beth Turner from 1985.

I was up on the roof, enjoying the falling light when my phone rang, right on time. She had dialed just as the light moved to a darker shade of the twilight, and I answered swiftly.

"Hiya, Mick, did you miss being a medic today?" she was buoyant in her spirit; it came right through the line.

"I missed you. Didn't miss worrying about whether or not you were hurting. How was your first day back?" It felt good to have the breeze flapping back my duster, moving over me like phantom hands as she spoke.

"School lunches do not hold a candle to your cooking, and I didn't get to watch Casablanca once today!" she mocked her recuperation time on my sofa.

"So, will you be taking it easy tonight?" I asked, trying not to color her decision.

"I am exhausted. I woke up and my boyfriend was gone, he wore me out last night and then just bounded out of bed, leaving me with a love note…you can't cuddle a piece of paper" she did her best acting job. Nonverbal Communication 501 otherwise known as Female Guilt 101.

_So long you've been running in circles 'round what's at stake__  
__But now the times come for your feet to stand still in one place__  
__You wanna reach out, You wanna give in__  
__Your heads wrapped around what's around the next bend__  
__You wish you could find something warm, 'cause you're shivering cold_

"So what are you going to do with this boyfriend, he sounds like a sad sack to leave a luscious woman like you alone?" I'll play for the right terms.

"I was thinking of dropping by his place with a set of handcuffs and cuffing myself to his headboard" matter of factly as if she had a set of cuffs….What have I gotten myself into? I chuckled a bit, wiping the smile off my face before it became an out loud fact.

"And then…" I baited her.

"I'd be at his mercy, and I'd do unspeakable things to him, because I need some sort of a release….those kids were brutal today. None of them gave me a foot rub or brought me hot tea." She was flipping my switch, for sure.

"How are you going to do anything if you're the one cuffed to the bed?" I asked….

"Mick….I'm trying to be clever…cut me some slack, I've been with munchkins all day. If one more of them walk into my backside I'm going to shriek" she had a laugh somewhere between Cruella Deville and Maleficent, my kind of girl.

_Its the first thing you see as you open your eyes__  
__The last thing you say as your saying goodbye__  
__Something inside you is crying and driving you on___

_Its the first thing you see as you open your eyes__  
__The last thing you say as your saying goodbye__  
__Something inside you is crying and driving you on___

_'Cause if you hadn't found me I would have found you, I would have found you_

I opened the door once I heard the elevator arrive and stood in the doorway, she had her tote thrown over her shoulder and she was striding smoothly into my open arms. She had showered and wore a new scent fragrant and citrus. We entered the loft together and she put down her bag, following me to the sofa. I had started the fire before she arrived and had the music playing.

"Glass of Wine?" I asked as she kicked her shoes off and got settled on the sofa.

"Sure, I've eaten so I won't pass out on you" she winked.

"Darn, you caught on to my M.O." I brought the glasses to the coffee table and she picked hers up as I raised my glass and toasted "Here's to munchkins and the havoc they wreak".

"And here's the man that rescues me from those ankle biters" She raised her glass higher.

"Well, at least I bite a little higher" I said as I sat back next to her, shoulder to shoulder. As we drank she turned and threw her legs over my lap, lying back on the arm of the sofa.

"And your bite is so much more exhilarating" she winked as we enjoyed a period of silence, so uncommon in a new relationship.

When she had finished her first glass she hopped up and headed for the kitchen, when I went to stand up she stayed me with a shake of her head and another wink. Beth grabbed the wine bottle and came back to the sofa, pouring refills for both of us.

"So, Mick….has your life changed in the last five and a half weeks? I know mine has…" she drew out the words with delight.

"I would say so, I've seen a remarkable increase in my grocery bill and I'm getting out more….going to books stores and symphonies and, Oh yes, I shot my best friend" Beth was following along until I mentioned the troublesome accident from Saturday night.

"I was going to accept responsibility for everything until you got to the part about shooting your best friend,,,,,, by the way, can I be something other than your best friend? Cause I do not think I'd recover as well as Josef did" She quipped shaking her head.

_It was your first taste of love living upon what you had__  
__Its the first thing you see when you open your eyes___

_The last thing you say as your saying goodbye__  
__Something inside you is crying and driving you on  
_  
By now I was turning to face her, my arm along the back of the sofa. I placed my glass on the table and reached for her glass, placing it next to mine.

"I have several names for you and what you are….Angel, Goddess, Lover, Sweetheart, Knockout, Beauty, True Love, " She blushed under the weight of the words, holding her hands over her mouth as if in prayer that these words were sincere.

I swept her into my arms and continued, "Beloved, Flame, Inamorata…"

_**'Cause if you hadn't found me  
I would have found you, I would have found you  
I would have found you, I would have found you**_

**To be continued in the next series, "Love, Full Blooded Love"**


	7. Chapter 7 LOVE, FULL BLOODED LOVE

**LOVE, Full Blooded Love**

Rated: R

Categories: Alternate Universe, Song Fic Characters: Beth, Josef, Mick, Original

Chapters: 1 Completed: Yes

Word count: 9103 Published: August 25, 2009

**Part 1**

Mick's POV:

Intense Affair. Burning insanity, jealousy, eaten up with passion and spit out, left alone. Done that once and I am watching for any signals. Once burned, twice shy – great song, better advice.

As excited as I am right now I'm tempering each step with some hard earned judgment. With the human divorce rate at 50% or better and no stats for the undead, I am a cautious vamp. When Beth decides to leave around 11pm after a visit I'm OK with that. I need my freezer (which she hasn't seen yet) and Beth likes being around the corner from school in the morning. Of course it takes us about 30-40 minutes to say good bye each time we part. These days I vote for a long term, steady flame in my heart rather than fireworks that blow off your fingers.

Beth's POV:

6 Weeks. This Friday it will be 6 weeks that I have known Mick St. John. Sometimes I look at him and forget to breath. I wonder if this is the way my Mom started with Dad. Mom remembered the day she met him only it took 9 weeks for him to ask Mom out. Dad made up for lost time and put an engagement ring on her hand in 8 weeks. I grew up hearing their individual stories, thinking this is a fairytale to have a love like theirs! Each have them have told in their own way the "you'll know when you know". At my age I understand them better.

No wonder Mick came off as old fashioned, he's my Grandfather's age. Hey, at least of don't have to share him with other blonds at the Playboy Mansion. He causes me to think about the time I have on earth because he's has so much time. He confided he had wasted at least one lifetime already – he didn't tell me how, perhaps one day he will.

Truth be told, his being undead or a vampire or whatever the cool buzzword is means about as much as if he were left-handed. It's inconvenient at time, nothing we can't work around. Another day dawns and he goes to his rest and I get up from mine. I dress with a smile on my face and head to school in the best mood I've had in a long while. I see an end to the school year and then exercising the decisions I've made about my career. Mick has a way of making comments, asking questions and encouraging me. He urged me to love what I do and I feel the suggestion came flawlessly from his heart.

Mick's POV:

_**She stares through my shadow**_

_**She sees something more**_

_**Believes there's a light in me she is sure**_

_**And her truth makes me stronger**_

_**Does she realize I awake every morning with her strength by my side**_

I love Josef like a brother yet his advice on women leaves something lacking. By the time I'm 408 I hope I'm a bit more developed in my understanding of women. I know my Dad spent many hours in his workshop, tinkering on some wood while he fussed under his breath that, "If I live forever, I'll never understand your Mother". So here I am with options Dad never had….and what have I learned?

• Don't play with your food, respect it.

• Don't think with my little head.

• Share my gifts with the people I love

• Behave like a gentleman, even if she's not behaving like a lady.

• And as far as Josef goes, don't kiss and tell – he can smell it all on me anyway so attempts at discretion get refuted with a detailed description and his quarterbacking my techniques.

The very best part of Beth in 2008 is she's no victim. I'm a guy she met and liked and we're dating. It's as simple as that. The day I find out she leaves the cap off the toothpaste I'll be tolerant, not bombastic.

When the evening fell, little did I know I'd have what I thought was finished business knocking at my door.

_**I am not a hero, I am not an angel, I am just a man**_

_**Man who's trying to love her unlike any other**_

_**In her eyes I am**_

I was at the computer, when there was a knock at the office door. Usually if they don't walk directly in and they knock I meet them at the door. I scented humans, two females and opened the door. There stood Louise and Caroline Bishop, one looking worse than the other.

I thought to myself, "Good evening, Miss Ghost", and held the door open, inviting them to have a seat in the office.

Caroline sat eyes downcast, hands folded between her knees, her shoulders hunched over, and her bleached blonde hair still punk-styled and semi-dirty. She wore the odor of the newspaper mailroom, the paper, the solvents the ink ground into her fingertips after months of handling newspaper bundles. Louise looked older than when I saw her six weeks ago, dark circles under her eyes and about a half inch of grey roots in her blonde hair. Louise started the conversation,

"Mr. St John, thank-you for helping Caroline a few weeks ago. I never got to call, we appreciate what you did." She looked at Caroline as if she was supposed to speak, then began again, "Caroline and Jonas, Micah's father had an argument last weekend, we're afraid that Jonas has taken Micah. Jonas was due back with him at Noon today and the cell isn't turned on and Jonas isn't at work. I thought of you after I called the police."

I folded my hands on the desk and swallowed….was it Yogi Berra who said…."It's déjà vu all over again"?

"Ms Bishop, do you have a formal child visitation agreement with Jonas?" I asked, trying to make eye contact with Caroline. She sat up and rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand before she spoke.

"No, we never had anything on paper, he doesn't pay regular and when he doesn't pay I don't let him see Micah", she was monotone. "We fought this weekend about money; he said he'd bring me money when he brought Micah home today. It was noon and there was no Jonas, no Micah and no money." She bit her bottom lip and sat back in the chair, her head back, eyeing the ceiling as it held the answers to the world's questions.

"What were you instructed to do by the police?" I was starting a form on the computer, typing as they spoke.

"They said we need to get official arrangements, they want to have us talk to a mediator, and they've taken his info, put out an alert for him."

"If you want we can go back to your home and I can take a look and see if I can locate him and ask him to voluntarily return Micah. Is Micah on any medication or in any danger?" My biggest fear was Micah being asthmatic or allergic to foods.

"No, he's ok, I just want him home, Mr. St. John", Caroline was now starting to weep softly. "I'm sorry I was a smartass the other night, I didn't need to be like that. I should have been nicer to you, at least bought you a drink".

I held up my hand, thinking water passed over the wheel and shook my head, "Caroline, no problem. Let's get back to your place, where the three of you were last and I'll see if I can find them this evening, OK?"

My phone rang, it was Beth, and I excused myself to take her call.

Our soundtrack : Josh Groban, In Her Eyes

http :/ www . you tube . com/watch?v=9UVX_hh4wKI

_**This world keeps on spinning only she stills my heart**_

_**She's my inspiration, she's my northern star**_

_**I don't count my possession all I call mine**_

_**I will give her completely to the end of all time**_

Beth's POV:

"St John here," Mick sounds all business.

"Good evening, handsome"

"Hello, babe, how was your day?"

I could hear the smile in his voice, so I replied with my best smiley voice "As days go it was great. Just checking in to see how your night is shaking out."

Then he shares he's with a surprise client, they popped in unannounced. I didn't even want to know what it was.

"Will you be working? You know, since you have people in the office already?"

"I do have a couple of things to check out, would you be up around 11 or would it be too late to drop by?"

I'd take a nap and wake back up for the chance to see him. The hair, the eyes, the walk….the kiss, "Sure will, I'm staying up for Letterman at least and Craig if he has a good monologue".

"OK, Beth, I'll call to let you know I'm on my way, OK?" he made a kissing noise, it just makes me swoon, I puckered back and closed the call.

_**I am not a hero, I am not an angel, I am just a man**_

_**Man who's trying to love her unlike any other**_

_**In her eyes I am**_

The apartment that Jonas calls home is small, dank and completely male. I scent the argument, Jonas and Caroline sleeping in a queen bed, Micah sleeping on sofa cushions on the floor with stuffed animals that smell like cigarette smoke. I see tickets from a movie house in the neighborhood, several stubs for the recent Pixar movie.

This could be easier than I thought. I scent the towels in the bathroom, Jonas had bathed Micah and they had headed out to the theatre….they hadn't been home because Jonas was no more mature than Micah. If I drove to the theatre now, they'd probably be on their second tub of popcorn and big gulp, sitting laughing at the movie.

I excused myself, sending the Bishops back to their home. I drove to the Cineplex and picked the bills out of my wallet and retrieved my ticket and entered the Lobby. There were a dozen screens with the movie on 3 of them. I stood inside the back door and scented, nothing in the first room, walked to the next one and saw Micah's luminous blonde hair in the reflected light of the movie screen. Father and son were smiling, Micah in his Dad's lap, picking small hands full of slippery popcorn and feeding his Dad. I stood there, under their spell, and then took a seat near the door, waiting for the movie to end.

When the credits rolled and the house lights came on I stood up, waiting for them. "Jonas, could I have a word with you?" I flipped my PI Badge at him. He was calm and picked up Micah, holding him away from me.

"Caroline pissed off?" he must have been used to it.

"Jonas, she asked me to help find you and Micah. Although you don't have an agreement with Caroline I'm going to ask you for Micah's sake to sit down with the mediator and work something out. Do it for your son, OK?"

The guy was ok looking, not stoned or under the influence, just a working class stiff with an illegitimate son. "You want to follow me there so she doesn't go ballistic on me?" he asked. I nodded and we walked out together to our cars. I followed him to the Bishops where the sound of the cars drew the women to the front porch. Perhaps my presence did diffuse her rant; they shuffled at each other in the drive way as Louise retrieved Micah and took him inside the home.

"You both, OK? "I asked. They nodded and I waved that I was leaving; it was till earlier that I expected, about 9:45, so I stopped at the grocer and picked up a pint of Cherry Garcia, and arrived at Beth's within minutes. I dialed her phone from the parking lot and asked her to come to the French doors

_**In her eyes I see the sky and all I'll ever need**_

_**In her eyes time passes by and she is with me**_

Beth's POV:

When the phone rang I was still napping….Mick's early! "Hello" I just popped up and pushed my hair out of my eyes.

"Come to the French doors" he asked… was he going to sing to me from the ground?

"OK, I'm coming out now", as I open the doors wide and step into the dark night. There's a whoosh and a flapping of fabric and suddenly Mick is in front of me holding a small grocery bag.

"You can fly?" I asked, giggling like a girl as I walked into his arms.

"No, I've just got a ridiculous vertical leap" He smiled, just insanely handsome and hugged me to him as he kissed my lips lightly.

"Anything else you want to share?" I asked as I pressed against his length and took the freezer bag from him.

_**I am not a hero, I am not an angel, I am just a man**_

_**Man who's trying to love her, Unlike any other**_

_**In her eyes I am, In her eyes I am**_

**Part 2**

Beth's POV:

Mick did this jump…yeah a jump…up from the ground onto the balcony. There he was, breeze blowing his curls in his face, duster flapping around his thighs. No wonder there are stories about vampires turning into bats and flying…did I ask him about shape-shifting? Maybe I should…. Anyway, once he walked inside my apartment it looked like something was under his skin. I didn't think it was me; it looked more like something from earlier in his evening. I'll let him tell me; let me see if I can draw it out of him.

_**I've been working real hard, to get my hands clean,**_

_**Tonight we'll drive that dusty road from Monroe to Angeline,**_

_**To buy you a gold ring and pretty dress of blue,**_

_**Baby just one kiss will get these things for you,**_

Mick's POV:

This is the good stuff, the surprise on Beth's face when I landed right in front of her; I guess she expected a fraternity quartet singing "Sweetheart of Sigma Chi". Right now part of me wants to take her into my arms and just inhale her from toe to the top of her head. The past few hours have been a diorama of human anxieties. A man and a woman meet, make a child and then abuse each other, along the way abusing the child….the child grows up and it goes on…..In 24 or so years, will my "son" investigate Micah's child's disappearance? If it didn't seem so odd, I wish I could shower right now to get all of "it" off me.

"Didn't expect that, did you?" I grinned and winked. I like the way her nose wrinkles when she winks back, and there she just did it.

"That was the last thing I expected, you are early and that means I haven't had a chance to wake up from my nap, are you sure this isn't a dream? Earth to Beth, your boyfriend just flew in through the balcony"

"Beth, that's the way rumors start, I jumped, not flew" I put the pint of ice cream into the freezer while she stood back, leaning against the island. I turned around and hung up my duster on the coat rack and came back to her. I hefted her up so I could look up into her eyes and wrap my arms around her waist. I rested my head on her breasts and listened to her heartbeat earnest, strong, steady, just like Beth. I inhaled her crispness and held her.

_**A kiss to seal our fate tonight, a kiss to prove it all night.**_

_**Prove it all night, Girl there's nothing else that we can do,**_

_**So prove it all night, prove it all night,**_

_**And girl I'll prove it all night for you.**_

Please open a second window for the soundtrack: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Prove It All Night

http: / www . you tube . com/watch?v=C3vUKBOJ5sU...opicID=25248879

She lifted my face and traced my lips with her finger, "What's this about? You seem so melancholy"

Whenever children are involved the images that stay in my head are more disturbing. There was the déjà vu of the initial meeting and then the relief that Coraline wasn't involved.

The images of Jonas with Micah in his lap enjoying the movie struck me hard; I never had that sort of simple happiness. At the apartment I picked up on Jonas' emotions, as messy at it was I felt their playfulness where Jonas tossed the damp towel after he dried Micah from his bath. The two has played with pirate toys in the small bathroom's tub before leaving for the movie. Jonas was a man with few opportunities for pleasure and his son was a true joy to him.

I turned my eyes to Beth and put on my brave face, "How about some music?"

"Music it is" she grinned as she jumped off the island, pressing against me into my arms until her feet hit the floor. She feels so good.

_**Everybody's got a hunger, a hunger they can't resist,**_

_**There's so much that you want, you deserve much more than this,**_

_**But if dreams came true, oh, wouldn't that be nice,**_

_**But this ain't no dream we're living through tonight,**_

_**Girl, you want it, you take it, you pay the price.**_

"Ice Cream?" I hold up the Cherry Garcia as she fiddles with the iPod at the docking station.

"Sure" she nods, returning her eyes to the play list.

What's when I break into vampspeed, its great on so many levels. I'm into the hall closet, the bedroom, the kitchen and back to the bedroom.

"What are you up to?" she asked, boggled by the blur.

"Something" I left her hanging as she hung back watching, lest she come near and get knocked over in my path.

"I'm sure glad you don't do everything at that speed" she said in no particular direction. I came to stop right in front of her as she sat on the edge of the sofa seat. Her eyes were closed and her arms crossed over her breasts.

"Why are your eyes closed?" I asked, perplexed.

"I figured it was all about a surprise, so I want the full effect" Matter of factly.

I reached out for her hands and guided her into the bed room and asked her to open her eyes. She regarded the room awash in candle light, the bed tray adorned with body butter, Ice cream, fudge sauce, crushed cookies, whipped cream and caramel sauce.

"Mick, you don't eat….what are we going to do?" Beth giggled at the big bath sheet across the bed. She ran her hand over the bed rail as she walked to her side of the bed. She went to remove her shirt and I stopped her.

"Allow me" I volunteered and lifted the sweater over her head. A luscious lace brassiere held her delicate breasts and I kissed her cleavage as I unbuckled her jeans and drew them down her hips. As she stepped out of them she placed her hands on my shoulders and we both shivered a bit. Beth's was expectation, mine was from awe.

I laid her down and turned to disrobe and she reached me by my pants waistband, "My turn"

I let her pull me back to the bed and sat as she kneeled behind me to remove my Henley. Her lace brushed my back and it zinged me with her warmth, her scent and the thought of her hard nipples hiding behind the lace. Then I heard the clasp of her bra unclip and her soft flesh trailed on me. It was enough to jumpstart by heart.

"You have to let me stand up if you want my pants off" I volunteered.

She bent kissing my neck, alternating her tongue, then lips, then teeth – just a gentle bite exactly where Coraline took my life. Beth had no way of knowing, there was no physical scar. The scar I held was in my heart – losing my humanity so many decades ago. When I read her desire all harsh thoughts of my murder were washed away. Hot emotion poured through me, desire, passion and fascination so wildly that it held me captive. Sitting there, not moving, Beth got creative.

She took the bowl of caramel sauce and the 3 tined fork. Swooping up a fork full she dripped the rope of caramel across my shoulders and returned the fork's tines through the caramel, scratching a trail into my skin that healed immediately.

Beth drew her tongue and lips over me consuming the sauce amid giggles and moans. Once she ate all of the sauce off me she whispered.

"Now I can have my favorite vamp and eat him too!"

"Favorite? You've had others?" I faked a crushed look.

She mocked back, chuckling, "Band Camp, I forgot to tell you about him".

She nudged me to stand and began to work on my belt buckle and unbutton my jeans. As her fingers brushed my lower stomach I was near bucking to come, then I regained control and waited as she worked over me, pushing my jeans down as I toed off my shoes. I turned to step out of the pants and she reached out and pinched my ass. I jumped to scare her and peeked over my shoulder.

"Hey, hey, hey don't bruise the merchandise; you break it you buy it"

There was, lying on her stomach, her chin in her hands – like a little girl waiting for a bedtime story then she blushed.

"I have NEVER seen such a fine ass in my entire life. I see you and I want to take a big bite of it" and she licked her lips.

"I thought you were a lady….I've never heard you talk like this….." more mock astonishment served up to her.

"Mick, I know you better now, "that honey voice sang to me as she rose off the bed and drew herself to my body for a hug. Warm flesh and a beating heart seeking the refuge of my cold flesh and still heart. I slipped my thumbs into the sides of her panties and slid them down. I pushed her gently back and she bounced on the bed, the motion of my pulling her panties threw her legs in the air. I tossed the panties over my shoulder. I caught her feet and kissed each toe. She moaned as I teased her with my tongue.

"If you're moaning now, I can't wait until later" I kissed the sole of her foot and laid them both down on the bed.

"Go for broke, Mick. It's about time the neighbors know I live here. Let's give them something to talk about." She lowered her voice and it sounded huskier and sexier.

_**Prove it all night prove it all night, prove it all night,**_

_**And girl I'll prove it all night for you.**_

_**Prove it all night, prove it all night girl,**_

_**Prove it all night, prove it all night and girl,**_

_**I prove it all night for your love.**_

I spend time stroking and kneading her back and torso, pressing and stroking the body butter and rubbing into her soft skin. Her body shone in the candlelight when I was done, and she grinned with a loose loving look as I crawled into bed with her, stretching along her side. Beth was flush from her blood moving from the massage and it literally sang to me, I wrapped my arms around her, drawing her arousal into my soul.

"I believe we have a serious problem" she was so very serious…..

"What, babe? What's wrong?" There wasn't anything I would try to do to make her world right. I released her from my grasp as she sat up.

I didn't see what she did until she turned with the bowl of melted ice cream, just the cherries floating in the soup.

"The Ice cream is melted, I'll have to lick it off you…." And she poured a good bit down the center of my chest down below my navel. She took a hand full of cookie crumbs and dressed the soup pooling on me. The fudge sauce decorated my erection along with whipped cream on the tip of me. I threw my hands behind my head and watched as I became dessert.

_**Baby, tie your hair back in a long white bow,**_

_**Meet me in the fields out behind the dynamo,**_

_**You hear they voices telling you not to go,**_

_**They made their choices and they'll never know,**_

_**What it means to steal, to cheat, to lie,**_

_**What it's like to live and die.**_

I welcomed the coolness of the ice cream soup; her warm lips provided the sexual tension. Beth licked and lapped, sucking up the cookies crumbs, stopping occasionally to grin back at me. She pinched my nipples between her fingers as her tongue delved into my navel, swirling in a circle until all the ice cream was licked clean. When she crawled between my legs and began to trace the veins on my erection I began to lose vision….all white light and coursing sensations. She drew her tongue the length of my underside and took as much of me in her mouth as she could. The fudge outlined her lips and it trailed up and down me as she stroked. The whipped cream melted into our skin and we slid against each other with silent grace, savoring the peace.

Her lips danced around one side of me, then the other side, drawing the skin of my erection so tight….so impossibly tight I wanted to surrender to her mouth….then I thought about the incredible tightness her pussy held and I wanted to bellow for her to ride me. I kept my mouth shut, enjoying her love and care. That's when she smacked another handful of caramel sauce on me and slathered the crème on to herself, crawling up to ride me. I met her stroke for stroke and her body was a canvas covered with caramel, fudge and whipped crème. We moaned and stroked until I felt her muscles choke me, she licked her lips and fell to me. She held my face and watched my change and offered herself to me. Even in the rapture I knew I didn't want to mar her neck, so I begged for her breast and she gladly offered it for my bite.

We rode the path to the bright white void together, collapsed on one another. While we're glued together with fudge and caramel and sweat, our hearts are entwined with curiosity and love.

_**Prove it all night, Girl there's nothing else that we can do,**_

_**So prove it all night, prove it all night,**_

_**And girl I'll prove it all night for you.**_

_**To prove it all night…...**_

**Part 3**

Mick's POV:

Man is driven in en toto by his insecurities. That works for vampires too. My visit to Beth's tonight was all about reclaiming my manhood, my humanity, to enjoin in passion and connect with someone who would miss me if I didn't walk this earth when the moon rose next.

In the still coldness of the industrial freezer that I will always occupy alone I lay here, tape looping in my head…Mick St John, this is your life…what was today all for?

Why couldn't I have chosen another profession? A private investigator will always have to hear a tale of woe before he accepts a job, puts a price on someone's problems and puts on the tights and cape to save their sorry ass. I feel like such a cynic. Today I couldn't even put a price on their problems. They live with two weeks pay in the checking account. My services today were gratis for Louise paying me in 1985 when my wife was the cause of their problems to begin with.

What mental illness, what ICD-9 code would a get slapped on my chart?

Tonight's soundtrack is provided by The Fray, Say When

http:/ /www .you tube. com/watch?v=i_MzfchNUbg

Earlier at Beth's apartment

When Beth climbs off me we're still reveling in the orgasms and the silliness of our personal ice cream social. She runs to the shower to get it started, yelling back over the sounds of the water,

"It may have to be a bit warm to clean off the syrup, are you OK with that?" Beth hadn't had nerve to ask for the heart to heart about my relationship with sun, hot water, etc. and I hadn't come forward on my own, she did know my preferences for darkness, shade and cold showers.

"A little won't hurt", I got up from the bed and stretched. I walked toward the shower, running a hand through my hair and self consciously wiping at my deflating erection feeling relaxed and spent. She bounced back to me with a kiss as she ran to lock the apartment door and turn down the music a bit.

I went ahead and got into the shower and began lathering up, when I heard Beth's phone ring. I sensed her reticence and then she picked up.

"Hello, Anthony, why are you calling?" Anthony, the ex. Her voice was thick with frustration. All I heard was one side; I didn't want to turn off the water to listen in.

"That's right, I could have let it roll into voice mail and then I would have had to dial you back and YOU'D let it roll into voice mail so you could call me back. You are always in control" At the last sentence her voice quieted to a submissive level.

"Why are you calling so late?"

"You what? You saw the lights on? Are you stalking me?" Now her anger was ramping up. She stood silent, almost shaking while she listened.

"I really need you to stop. Yes, you and I are done." She was nodding and leaning against the island where I had hugged her earlier.

"I need to know, are you outside now?" her concern grew at the thought that someone watched us.

"You never cared for the symphony…..who I took is none of your business. Anthony, I am hanging up and if you ever call me or I see you watching me I will have my attorney and the police make the next call. Do you understand me?"

I had turned on the shower massage feature to increase the sound, I didn't want to let on I had heard her anger and frustration. She slid the shower curtain aside and stepped into the tub, I had the shower wand ready to sprinkle her and make her smile. I did sprinkle her and she didn't smile. In fact, she clung to me and burst into tears. All the syrups that I had washed off were back on me from her tight embrace.

_**I See you there, don't know where you come from**_

_**Unaware the stare from someone don't appear to care that I saw ya.**_

_**And I want you**_

_**What's your name Cuz' I have to know it you let me in and begin to show it**_

_**we're terrified 'cuz we're heading straight for it, might get it.**_

Once we were out and dried off she threw me a robe, "I hoped you'd spend more time here to need this" The white robe was like the deluxe hotel robes in fine hotels and the pocket had an ornate MSJ embroidered in gold on the pocket.

"Thank-you, I'm a kind of speechless, I've never had one like this" I slid it on to feel the super soft velour interior and rolled back the cuffs. Beth slid on her robe and we sat together on the sofa, she held a wine while I had two fingers of scotch. I didn't have to prod, she repeated the call verbatim and shook her head at different comments he had injected.

Anthony had in fact followed her to the symphony, he assumed she'd be alone and had expected to connect with her …. When he saw her enter the private reception with me he was put off, yet not as much as when he saw the two of us in a private box. Anthony knew who Josef Kostan is and he was curious about whom I was….

Anthony had in fact driven by about an hour ago, seeing the lights he had intended to call and then come upstairs, what a master of timing that would have been. Would have served him right when you go stalking and find your ex fiancé with her vampire boyfriend covered in ice cream toppings…..

_**You're in the song playing on the background**_

_**All alone but you're turning up now**_

_**And everyone is rising to meet you, to greet you**_

_**Turn around and you're walking toward me**_

_**I'm breaking down and you're breathing slowly**_

_**Say the word and I will be your man, your man**_

Her total honesty in her predicament with her former flame was refreshing and it drove me to want to be honest with her…I felt dirty and deceitful when I recalled my back story to our meeting.

How long would I have to know her to tell her why I was looking for Beth Turner? Would she think I dated her for her name? What a cad I am. I'm a cad and all I want to do is be with her, share things with her, maybe even travel with her, show her whatever I can show her to let her know she is special.

_**Say when and my own two hands will comfort you**_

_**tonight, tonight say when and my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight**_

It was early, about 1am when I left, she was still wrapped in her robe when she walked me to the door. I left more conventionally than I arrived. We had covered so much on her side of our tale. I knew her so much better now.

_**Come close and then even closer we bring it in but we go no further**_

_**we're separate. Two ghosts in one mirror, no nearer**_

_**Later on if it turns to chaos, hurricane coming all around us**_

_**See the crack, pull it back from the window, you stay low**_

As Beth related the situation she never once mentioned taking advantage of my position or career to "heavy hand" Anthony. Her honor and desire to see it through to a restraining order seemed almost angelic.

Then what do I have to do to feel honorable enough to be with her? What river do I have to wade to wash away my sins of obsession and delusions of a contrived romance?

_**Say when and my own two hands will comfort you**_

_**tonight, tonight say when and my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight**_

The following afternoon, Church of the Immaculate Conception, confessional

I lied again when I crossed myself and said, "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, It has been 3 years since my last confession." It actually had been 1952 since I had taken the sacrament prior to my wedding. At least when I went to my death I went with a clean soul. I became undead with a sparkling white soul.

"Father, thank you for meeting me here on such short notice." I was penitent.

"Do you wish to speak here behind the screen, son, or did you want to sit in the pews?" The priest was older, at least older than my 30's appearance.

"Father, I would prefer to be here. I'm used to this, if that's OK?" I was too ashamed to face anyone.

"What is your burden, son?" He never looked to the screen, just sat holding his worn leather prayer book on his lap.

If we only had time for all of it, I'd spend all of the time on my knees here in the dark if it bought me absolution.

_**Come across your lost and broken**_

_**you're coming to but you're slow in waking you start to shake.**_

_**You still haven't spoken, what happened**_

_**they're coming back and you just don't know when**_

_**you want to cry but there's nothing comin'**_

_**they're gonna push until you give in, say when**_

"I've not been honest with a woman I believe I love" It was the plainest way I could explain it.

"And why haven't you been honest? Is it because of Pride, Covetousness or Lust? These son, are capital sins….."

I immediately thought, Oh, brother he just peeled those off his tongue like I'd peel dollars bills off for a valet at the car park.

"I'm a private investigator. I called a woman in the course of an investigation, it was a wrong number and we chatted and I confirmed that she wasn't who I was looking for, and a few days later she saw me in the news and she called me back. I was fascinated with her because of her name. When she asked to meet me I did it just because of her name" There I had said it…there was no rational way to come clean by lying.

The priest's hand went to his chin as he sat in thought. "Son, were you lusting after her? Had you licentious thoughts about her from her voice on the phone? Did she mislead you?"

"No sir, not at that time. I was curious about her, she sounded nice"

"Son, there is no sin at that point, what are you leaving out? I feel your hesitancy – what else is there?"

I wanted to scream and have the sound carry the lie out of me. "Father, I had experienced delusions, delusions for years that I was protecting a previous client." I sat in silence while I tried to make this PC and vampire-free for the priest

"Go on" Fr. Donovan nodded, waiting for the rest.

"I had rescued a young woman from a kidnapper. I had fought and killed the kidnapper. I returned her to her mother. I imagined that I followed her as a favor to the family; I thought that the she would always be vulnerable. In the past 5-6 months I have imagined that I have been dating this young woman, that we were about to marry. It was all a delusion. The young woman had the same name as the young woman I am seeing now."

I had to clean up the entire time line…nothing like trying to find a vampire priest when you need one. Did my lie of a story explain what I went through? Did compressing the time change any of the facts?

"Was this young woman under the age of consent?"

"No, sir, she wasn't. My feelings of deceit stem from the fact that I haven't told my current girlfriend that I've been slightly nuts, that I was delusional about a romance with a woman by the same name, that I was initially interested in her because of a name."

"Have you given the entire situation sufficient reflection and chosen to be deceitful? I feel that by coming here today you are seeking a way to speak to her, that you have not given a full consent of the will to this sin you feel you have committed. If you feel she is worthy of love then the sum of your love would bear this confession to her".

_**Now we're here and it turns to chaos hurricane coming all around us**_

_**Double crack throws you back from the window, you stay low**_

_**It all began with the man and country**_

_**Every plan sends another century around again another nation fallen**_

I took a deep breath as a cleansing step. All of these things had bounced off the walls of my brain. I had my upbringing hidden somewhere and needed an outsider to escort me to my Rubicon.

"Thank-you, Father for your time, I'll pursue this with her. I just needed a push, you know, from the outside. My parents are deceased and I needed some advice like I'd get from them"

"Son, you've been mindful to call me for guidance, even at your age that is admirable. Your 30's are years of great change and tremendous personal growth. If you had a good family life then it is natural that you do miss a family. These are years for you to transform your house into a warm home with a wife and children, grow your family around you, become the husband your father was."

I swallowed hard on those words. Plenty of marriages were childless; our friends could be our family. I may be immortal, yet my time could be finite. Whatever time I could have with this tender and expressive woman would be time savored for eternity when my soul eventually rested. Could our souls rest together?

_**Maybe god can be on both sides of the gun never understood why**_

_**Some of us never get it so good, so good**_

_**Some of this was here before us all of this will go after us**_

_**Never stops until we give in, give in**_

"Beth, hey, how's your day been? I didn't keep you up too late last night, did I?" I didn't want to tire her excessively when I was about to confess to her and rely on her empathy and compassion…..

"Actually, I've worked on less sleep and the evening was a ton of fun right up until Anthony the Asshole called" She was back to herself.

"I'd like to cook dinner for you tomorrow, could you come by right after school, have dinner over here?"

"Sure, should I pack a little overnight bag?" she was playful and I wanted to hold her so much right now.

"I would love for you to pack an overnight bag…..so I'll see you after school tomorrow? Beth, you mean so much to me, I'll miss you until then. Get a good night's sleep and I'll see you" I kissed at the phone mouthpiece and I heard her kiss back.

Oh, well there goes more of the 9th commandment crumbling down around our ankles.

_**Say when and my own two hands will comfort you**_

_**tonight, tonight say when and my own two arms will carry you tonight, tonight**_

_**Say when and my own two hands will comfort you tonight, tonight**_

**Part 4**

Mick's POV:

Josef. My brother, confidante, major heckler and my vampire conscious. I expect the truth 100% of the time whether I want it or not.

There we are, with dinner in our laps, while my mind was somewhere other than the brunette A+. I drew on her and swallowed her relaxation. Sheila is a pro, never anxious, always placid from her large dark eyes to her soft pink toes in the sandals. I gathered her up and lay her on the chaise, covering her with a throw. I turned and saw Josef had left me so I followed his hearty bellow as he prowled the hall to the game room.

"You have some minutes to spare?" I asked.

"214,444,800 of them so far and God knows how many to go" he turned on a dime to face me, hands on hips looking somewhat menacing to anyone but me.

I grinned and shook my head; bit my bottom lip before I spoke. "May we speak privately?" I tilted my head to the room ahead.

As he entered the room and poured us drinks he asked, "Sheila, OK?"

"Very fine, yes, this is about Beth" I accepted the glass and sat down.

"She needs a job?" He cocked his brow and adjusted his tie as if he'd go right into an interview with her…

"Josef, not at all" my chest rumbled at the thought of Josef "interviewing" her. I gave him my best stern face and put my feet up on the ottoman. Josef took a seat on the leather sofa opposite me.

"Old Beth or new Beth?" he pursed his lips before sipping the scotch.

"New Beth" and my face registered the smile I always have when I think about her.

"I guess its good, by your smile" he winked.

"I'd like to say it is. I need some advice" I got serious and he grew a wry smile.

"Just inside the leg is the sweetest, but you knew that" he knew I was getting serious by my flat expression.

"Thank-you, Josef, I'm being serious here. I need to know the protocol". The vampire equivalent of the facts of life, or un-life.

"Since I'm assuming you are not going into the Diplomatic Corps, you mean the Vampire Protocol?" even that made him serious.

"Right", I hate when he makes me pull it out of him. He knows Coraline never followed "The Protocol" much less mentored me in it.

"Did you need the Reader's Digest Condensed Version or the Catechism?" He grew more sincere, quieter.

"How do I know what I don't know? Have you got it on a flash drive? I'll read it and get it back to you." I figured it would be the size of "Jane's Aircraft" and I could peruse it and return it.

"Not exactly….it origin is a single illuminated parchment from a monastery in the northern Italian, near Lago Maggiore. This predates Gutenberg's Bible and I'm not talking Steve Guttenberg" he stopped to grin and impress me with his wit, "Other than a nomadic group that convenes in major cities intermittently all of the protocol is verbal from Sire to Fledgling. Unless your Sire decides she wants you to twist and spin for eternity, like Coraline did."

"Right" I nodded and waited to hear whether I would have the wisdom imparted or dismissed.

"The Tribe has it's network. Forget the Masons and the US Government. The founding fathers patterned their form of government after us. John Hancock, why do you think he signed so large? He was a member of the tribe and didn't give a rat's ass about being outed. But I digress" Josef snapped out of his almost lounge act and made eye contact with me. "You do not want to know how to run for the Governor of Vampire California, you want to know how to take Beth to the next level, right?"

I nodded back to him, "I want to know more about the dangerous, difficult and complicated."

When Josef kicked off his shoes and stretched out on the sofa I knew this was going to be awhile, I had never seen him remove his shoes to talk. "You want to know everything from first bite to fledgling?" He tipped back into the corner of the sofa and stretched his arms above his head.

"Yeah" I said; ready to be up all night. He started slowly then went off on a tangent about a girl in themed 1600's, then wrapped up with his Sara in a coma in New York. In his hands it all becomes the Gospel according to Josef.

I gleaned that although I hadn't broken and punishable rules I had skated close by divulging so much to Beth so soon. I was wise to have Beth around my friends for their observations and to integrate her into our society. Through their interaction they sought to confirm her patterns of confidences kept and general behavior.

The Tribe doesn't proselytize and they don't actively "recruit". According to Josef the last culling was minor and occurred during the First World War

My getting involved as I had I was setting myself up for eminent relocation while Beth's exit strategy could be more drastic. Her current options were akin to joining a dangerous cult. Join and cleave to the beliefs, leave and be shunned or worse.

I was struck by the look on Josef's face when he discussed the categories of humans. The terms seemed clinical and disengaging.

"The Salariarius are the lowest of the culture, they're being the non-feeding staff employed by vampires, house staff, etc. We find it in our nature to be generous as these people can be some of our closest allies. I know I've had a few in my 400 years" Josef nodded distantly, able to remember a handful of them.

"The Amicus are the non-feeding acquaintances, the business associates that stood toe to toe with the Tribe, the people I verbally beat up over business deals every day".

"The Epula, Epulae were the forerunner of the "Freshies", their jobs deemed them sacred as they fed the vampires. They earned great esteem and were kept healthy and well fed for all their days. To this day, they are one of my best investments"

And I couldn't help but comment back to Josef, "And source of Income, after seeing my first grocery bill from you". Josef frowned and continued.

"The Cupio are those marked by their lover vampire. The Tribe recognizes the bite and scent evidence of carnal knowledge as a badge of ownership a "Do not touch" to other undead. Anytime an older vampire desires your Cupio, they could try to haggle you for her or just flat out be a son-of-a-bitch and take her. That hasn't happened in my home since Vlad Tepes wanted Simone last year. He's taking some time out in the Aegean right now" Josef winked.

I began to feel goose flesh when Josef's voice lowered almost to a whisper, speaking about the "Noviciatus" those who were sealed to a vampire. Their desire to accept the dark gift was being given consideration. Both the Sire and the Noviciatus would be under scrutiny prior to the turning. Josef's position changed as he moved his feet to the floor and leaned over, his elbows on his knees.

The next step was the "Fledgling" the newly turned vampire relied totally on their Sire. This was my worse experience and established my decades of angst over my being. I drank up nervously as he described the beautiful relationships that could be forged between the two….it just had not been my experience.

"The longer you live the more you will become acquainted with the Antecedens, who had been engaged in service or trusted in some way with the secrets of the tribe. Their terms of service had been terminated amicably and they continued to hold the tribe's secrets while no longer working with them. I've kept a watch over each of mine, or at least someone in my employ does."

Josef chuckled and ran his hands through his hair, "You're going to love this group….I guess this is the group I have contributed to the most. The Damnatus, prime candidates for a trip to the tar pits although there were other means employed."

I continued to sit there….wondering how we could categorize the majority of the world, especially with most of them never ever even being aware of us. It was quite like a scientist categorizing Butterflies when the Butterflies didn't recognize the scientist. The majority of Humans were unaware of a tribe with the ability to scoop them up and pin their "wings" to a board to admire them like a Boy Scout would pin a Black Eyed Blue Butterfly.

"So now you know more than you knew and less that you want to know….Any questions?"

I regret I am unable to retrieve this video…I had one when I began the story and it is now gone…..The One, by The Kin

The song is available within their play list at this site- .com/thekin

_**A dollar in your pocket, you got five on the line**_

_**You've been through the wash you've been hung out to dry**_

_**This time you know for sure it's real**_

_**Would you be the one to fight for love**_

_**Would you stand the gun to bring it on**_

_**Would you be the one to fight for love?**_

_**Cause the best you've had is yet to come…**_

"I'm inviting Beth over tomorrow evening for dinner." I began to tell Josef, unsure of exactly what I'd say and do once she is there with me.

"Are you thinking of posing the eternal question?" Josef got reverent all of a sudden.

"No, not now, we've known each other 6, maybe 7 weeks….I couldn't imagine asking her to move in at this point, must less how would you like to live forever with me?" How could Josef be so smart in some ways and so dim in other areas?

"So it's just her dinner and your drinks and maybe a night with what…a National Geographic documentary? Hot monkey love?" Josef seemed unimpressed by my evening and he sat back into the sofa again.

"Right…..I can't even figure out how to proceed. It's not like we have inquirer's classes….If she'd want it I could see saying yes, I don't see the day, yet I see being ready for the day when it comes. I could just imagine what it would be like to sire Beth" I closed my eyes and got a ripple of excitement up my spine, a thickening against my fly, I reopened my eyes and smiled and Josef nodded.

"Buddy, I'd wish you plenty of luck with that….I don't know how I did, what I did to Sara. I would stay as far from me as possible if you need help in that area", he shook his hands at me as if to stay away.

"I have to level with her about how we met. If she doesn't burn my loft and run then we'll take it from there. She's special to me. She's told me she's beginning to love me. I've been a jackass and haven't returned the comment even though I've tried to show her how special she is, you know keeping her while she was hurt, feeding her to heal her.." and that's when Josef perked right up…

"You did what? He winced with a yell, jumping to his feet. His hands flew to his face….what the hell had I done?

"She was so beat up from the accident; it looked like it would be weeks before she healed. I felt sorry for her, she began to heal within minutes" there I sat defending myself, head back staring at Josef.

"Wow, Mick, you've got no alternative now….you'll have to , uh, uh marry her, you know?" he was dead-eyed serious

"What? You never said that in your explanation….I've spend half the night listening to you about protocol and vamp-human relationships." I was flipping out, not wanting to cage her or scare her. Josef sat there with his head down in his hands when I thought I heard him say something and I said, "What? Josef, what did you say?"

"Easy Mark says what?" and he smacked me on the shoulder, laughing loudly. I stood up wanting to slug him, and he caught me in a bear hug.

"Mick, I know you won't be careless with your love, I know she's special to you. Take it day by day. Even with immortality it's worth it to go day by day when you have someone to love."

I stood there in the hug and read the emotion in his eyes, heard the soul in his voice and knew my words would be understood, "Josef, I love you, brother, I love you. I couldn't get through this without you"

"Hey….buddy, I love you too." With that he released me and lightly slapped my cheek "If anyone knows I hugged you I'd have to show you where we keep the Damnatus".

_**You've followed your nose to the end of the line**_

_**Singing you've come this far, now this is your time!**_

_**This time you know for sure it's real, this time**_

_**all this time I have ignored the signs**_

_**Yet out of the dark will surely come the light**_

_**I will fight for this love again… this time**_

To be continued in Love, Reflected and Consumed.


	8. Chapter 8 LOVE, REFLECTED AND CONSUMED

LOVE, Reflected and Consumed

Rated: NC-17

Categories: Song Fic, Alternate Universe Characters: Beth, Josef, Mick, And Original

Word count: 19808

Originally Published: August 25, 2009

Love, Reflected and Consumed

* * *

**Part 1**

Two months after Love, Full Blooded Love

For extra thrills...Google the characters' names...they are from history. I made them Vampires.

**Mick's POV:**

My phone vibrated to life, Josef, What does he want other than to win back last night's poker losses?

"Mick, you, ah, available? I have someone in the office who wants to see you" he flatly asked

"Then why doesn't that someone come over to my office?"

"They wanted neutral ground, so come on over, OK?"

I couldn't imagine who would want neutral ground, maybe Anthony?

I entered Josef's reception area and greeted his latest receptionist, a former Freshie named Sonya.

"Good evening, Mr. St John, go right in they are expecting you" her smile didn't hint at the guest inside.

I was relaxed, guard half down. Scenting the air one fragrance was familiar, from a long time ago…yet I couldn't quite place it. I swung the door open to view the back of the chair and the large brim of a straw hat decorated with a red silk poppy. It brought to mind the poem we were taught by rote, as we recited it daily in English Class.

"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields. "

I approached the two high backed chairs in front of Josef at his desk. His face was semiserious, without a hint of a "tell" on the guest. I adjusted my demeanor and faced the leggy lady in the chair; she tilted her head up allowing the brim to reveal her face.

Coraline, in the flesh and by her expression undead and loving it. I stopped short and nearly fell into the chair opposite her.

Quite the surprise to walk into my friend's office and greet the woman I killed in 1985.

_**Although he knew that he shouldn't have Billy had the time of his life**_

_**She made him drinks from her surest hand and soon he was drunk**_

When I regained lucidity I was holding a tumbler of fresh A+, having the rest to drink was a great excuse to gather my thoughts…where were my thoughts? What were my thoughts?

Hadn't the stake been enough to hold her to the floor while the building burned around her?

All the years I carried the guilt of killing my Sire, the woman I had loved, the woman who stole my mortality on our wedding night. While I drank Coraline knelt at my knee, peering upward at me.

"Mick, love, I had to see you. You must know how much it's torn me apart to be separated from you all these years". There was the same familiar continental clip in her soft voice, the dulcet tones of her words flowing like honey into my ears. What did she mean by that? Had she forgiven me for her "murder"? Did she understand I did try very hard to kill her?

Every emotion I had suffered over her roiled in my chest.

"How ….are….you…here….?" I asked.

"Did you ever go back and look for my ashes? Mick, you always must confirm the ashes, the older the vamp the stronger and more resilient the vamp. At my age I can get a stake out, even the one that pinned me to the ground. If you don't find the ashes never assume a kill" She was downright scientific in her admonition.

All this time Josef sat silent, leaning back in his chair, elbows on the chair arms, fingers tented resting his chin on his thumbs, taking all this in….a fascinated spectator.

_**He played the fields in the finest hour dancing in the heat of the sun**_

_**They stayed together hand in hand oh could be love**_

"SO, why now? I quietly asked, completely outranked as a vamp.

"I figured I wanted to give you plenty of space, I figured in the scheme of vamps, 23 years is nothing, I missed LA, I've missed you terribly." She took her seat, placing one knee over the other, bobbing a red peep toe pump in the air to her internal rhythm, a vampire metronome.

I wanted to shut my eyes and reopen them to an empty chair. The Josef's voice recalled to reality.

"Coraline came back with many interests, one of them being your release" he was factual and unemotional.

"My release?" I had felt released when the stake went in…even more release when the house burned around her….what more could she do?

Josef's words continued and I lost them in a sea of swirling thoughts….then I heard "Although your California Marriage Covenant was voided with your death, you know "till death do us part", you were bound by the Sire/Fledgling and Undead Marital Bonds."

"By two agreements I never invited or signed" I spoke back, a little angry.

"Unfortunately these aren't signed agreements they are accepted by your very nature once turned." Josef quietly spoke, serious at each word.

"Since we haven't lived together as man and wife for 25+ years allows for our Dissolution, freeing both of us" Coraline smiled brightly and simply.

"So, you've found another victim to prey on and you are cutting me loose?" Lucky me I thought…Lucky me…..

"Mick, this could have been more serious as time passes. Coraline came back at her own accord and is volunteering to sign the release. She understands you are seeing a woman and if Beth does accept status among us we would need this for you to avoid a long drawn out process". Josef spoke quietly, without emotion.

"Love, this is for the both of us" Coraline purred as she accepted the ink pen from Josef.

So there I was, feeling exposed as if the vampire world was moving around me, without me. Viewing my behavior and orchestrating the steps before I attempted them. Where they watching me? Where they watching Beth? It felt a little dirty they were watching us. When I snapped back to reality, Josef was handing me a pen and pointing to lines where tiny post-its requested my signature or initials. The passages were in Latin and English, like the old St Joseph's Missals from my childhood. Here I have been undead 56 years and never had an idea about this part of the process.

I was numb.

I observed Coraline's solid stance as she bent at the hips to lean over the large forms on Josef's desk. The pose accentuated her personality; slim muscled legs teetered in 4" heels, slim to her fine trim ass covered in a red and white seersucker slim skirted sun dress with a brilliant red bolero. There she stood, perennially wasp-waisted and ripe and I understood why I was smitten with her.

Now she was officially free to land on any poor sucker just like she has landed on me. The dirty girl stood before me washed clean, given a pass from the council certainly intending to it again and again. She picked up her lipstick red purse and withdrew her calling card, extending it to me.

"Mick, no hard feelings, let me know if you need anything, my attorney will be in touch about the party house" and with that she exited the office as if she excreted honey.

"What was all that for?" I asked, out of curiosity, out of frustration.

Josef drew less solemn as he read through the papers confirming their correct completion.

"Mick, you're ready to move on, so was Coraline" simply stated facts as he saw them.

"I left her staked in a burning building" I was hoping Josef would understand my confusion at the protocol on this.

"Did you confirm her ashes?" he asked without looking up from the forms.

"No, I didn't" At my most vindictive I had been incomplete in my attempt to vanquish the demon who stole a child. Now all the buried guilt about killing my sire and spouse erupted with shock, awe and confusion that had been boiling since I had eyed Coraline.

"How long have you known?" I shouted at Josef, his hands separated as he shrugged. His lips drew straight as he closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"Mick" he drew slowly…..

"Don't….Mick…me…. How long, Josef?" I was up in vamp speed, my knuckles resting flat on his desk, vamped out and seething

"I heard of Coraline's travels since about 1999" his voice was soft and flat.

"And you didn't see where it might be of my interest to know the woman was walking among us? Dammit, Josef, Damn YOU!" I bellowed at him.

"I hadn't seen her, no calls, nothing. Then she calls yesterday. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I'm not about to run her off. Mick, if you had known she was walking the earth, don't you think you'd be fuming and a lot unhappier all these years?" It was a pure Josef rationale.

"Josef, I have been tortured by the thoughts of killing my sire, my wife, regardless of how I detested Coraline….you could have saved me 9 years of hell" I was still bellowing until I heard his answer…..

"What's 9 years against eternity?

(Our soundtrack on YouTube: Romeo - Live Maxwell's in Hoboken)

I had left his office in a foul mood, my duster flapping at my thighs as I stepped wide to cover greater ground, attempting to walk away from my anger for the solace of the dim loft. My head was waiting to explode, too many thoughts inside. I had to play Andre Bocelli in the car to calm down and I sat for a good 5 minutes gathering myself before pulling out on the road. I was determined to lose this funk before my dinner date with Beth.

Just thinking about taking her to the dimly lit restaurant made my shoulders relax. Like so many other nights we'd claim a private corner booth, enjoy some wine and we'd order two entrees. Beth would choose her favorites and she'd eat half of the portion and while no one watched us, we'd switch plates. Just for good measure I'd play at holding the flatware, occasionally scenting her saliva on the fork or spoon and I'd mimic her motions, licking the flatware and smiling at her flavor.

_**Slow down there Romeo let the wind pick up your sails**_

_**And wait and see for the summertime if the sun will melt her veil**_

_**And when the love you share is the bottom line the rest is up for sale,**_

_**So don't save the world, just say you love her and, la li la li la li la**_

I drove directly to Beth's apartment and in the darkness I bypassed the stairs and entered through the French doors; it was her favorite way for me to arrive. She was poised at the bathroom mirror finishing her makeup.

"You're perfect the way you are….you don't need a thing, I love you so much, Beth…" I said as I rushed her into my arms and overwhelmed her with kisses, deep and long.

She blushed profusely as she met me kiss for kiss, tightening her hold on my waist, pressing against me, her back to the vanity now.

"What have I done to deserve this?" she whispered….

_**The fire she kept for him in her eyes Billy knew that he could get burned**_

_**Get hypnotized by a strange delight he burned… and he burned**_

_**He sung the tune of a thousand men being in the heat of his prime**_

_**He sold his pride for a dollar ten oh could be love!**_

"You're the right woman for me, at the right time, and you love me, all of me" I wrapped one arm around her and ran my free hand through her hair…she probably had worked on it and I was messing her hairdo mercilessly.

"I do love all of you, especially the one that is so….so….spontaneous and affectionate….can he stay and play tonight?" she was awash in emotion and arousal.

"Beth, if you'll have me….I'll stay and play every night…" I released her and slid my hands down to her hips as I took a knee and placed my cheek on her flat belly. "Beth, I love you so much, will you have me, and will you be mine?" I was on the other side of my emotions from my visit to Josef's. I saw everything clearly when I was with Beth. All the kindness and warmth was there with her…She was the answer especially when the question was who do you want to spend all your waking time with.

"Mick, you know how I feel; how I love being with you….what are you trying to say?"

I released my arms from around her warm body and undid the clasp of my pendant, I stood and offered it "Until we can find something that fits your hand, will you accept this as a token of my honorable intentions?" when she nodded I placed the necklace around her neck and kissed where it fell between her sweet breasts.

Beth fingered the Fleury cross and smiled and nodded, small tears escaping her eyes, "Yes….I think this will do just fine" as we kissed over and over until sunrise.

_**Slow down there Romeo let the wind pick up your sails**_

_**Wait and see for the summertime if the sun will melt her veil**_

_**While the love you share is the bottom line the rest is up for sale,**_

_**So don't save the world, just say you love her and, la li la li la li la**_

_**Saving you, saving me - love gone, love in return**_

_**Saving you, saving me - Love gone, love in return**_

_**Saving you, saving me - Love gone, love in return**_

Nowhere to Now-here (Mick & Beth) video on YouTube

_**She moves me, she takes me in, it feels like the first time**_

_**She finds me, she blinds me, yet she opens my eyes**_

**Part 2**

Mick's POV:

In these scant weeks, months we've come from nowhere to now here….wrapped in each other's arms in the early morning hours. Whether we are at the loft or her apartment we move easily within each other's realm. As if we've have a place carved out all along, knowing which drawer holds the knife, the dishtowel and the hand soap. Now we've come to my asking her to spend her waking hours with me.

The early morning sounds begin, the birds in the tall tree outside the bedroom windows, the paper carrier padding up the steps and through the hallways dropping the heavy Sunday editions at the doors, the guy in apartment 4 that leaves every day before sunrise, 7 days a week. We had kissed and cuddled all through the night, never escalating past a delving tongue. We had fallen into bed fully clothed, murmuring and clutching till Beth fell asleep in my arms. Now the glow danced over her golden eyelashes and her eyes flickered open.

"I love when you're the first thing I see in the morning" She kissed her fingers and placed them on my lips…..rather than to kiss me with her "morning mouth", it was one of her cute habits.

"I love to watch you sleep, love to watch you dream" and I returned the gesture, letting my fingers linger on her lips. It was an adventure, listening to her heartbeat, her breathing and the flutter of her eyes as she drifted thru the levels of sleep. Vampires, the undreaming bunch of us, had to steal human night fantasies of those around us….I cherished Beth's sighs and breaths as she stripped the weight of day from her mind and danced with my apparition on clouds.

I lay on the bed and watched her bolt to brush her teeth and run a shower. She disrobed slowly without artifice and disappeared behind the shower curtain, the steam rolling over the top of the curtain rod. I got up to brew her coffee and begin to scavenge for her breakfast. I poured myself a travel mug of A+ stored for mornings like this and drank it down. Thank god for opaque containers secreted in the veggie crisper where Beth's friends didn't dig. I rinsed my mug and went to brush, Beth was still vigorously shampooing her hair so I slipped out of my clothes and slip behind her, lending my fingers to the frothy bubbles, stroking diligently on her scalp. She melted against me with a whisper.

_**Take this love it calls your name**_

_**No need to walk alone, from nowhere to now here**_

_**Change has come welcome in no need to walk alone…. nowhere to now here**_

"My boyfriend is here….if you hear fangs clicking you need to move fast…" Her wet, bubbled covered body slid on me, instantly thrilling me…..eyes silvered, fangs at half out….watching her map work of veins on her neck.

"Tell him I don't share" I growled softly as I grasped the shower wand and chased the bubbles away…envying them as they slid effortlessly down her body. I held the shower wand at her breasts, thrilling her nipples as I reached down to finger my prize beneath the mound of wet curls. "I'm sorry we missed dinner last night" I whispered between her sighs.

"I haven't starved yet…how about we have breakfast? I'll consider it even" she grasped the ginger soap and lathered my chest and further down as I grinned at her.

"You wait until you get my Johnson in your hands to make deals….where did you learn to negotiate?" I switched the shower massage to a syncopated beat and directed it at her clit as her soapy hands played at my balls and lengthening erection. The girl had me just where she wanted me…pleasuring her while she pleasured me.

I caught her as she began to moan and dropped the shower wand…this was a job for her lover not an appliance. I caught her knee and waist and entered her, then grasped her close to me while she held on and slid together and apart until we were both nearly delirious with each other's responses. The water was running to lukewarm as she rode up and down on me, lengthening me, tightening my balls until her strangle hold told me to bite gently and bite now….there a beautifully firm breast ready to be taken and I took it briefly. I suckled her love-charged blood and let out a chest rumbling purr of delight at hearing her moan begin until her head threw back in full orgasm. I lowered us to the tub and held her under the water, kissing her, embracing her…..cherishing her passion.

When the afterglow changed to hunger I dashed to pull on my jeans and cruised to begin Beth's breakfast. I delivered the coffee to the vanity while she dried her hair and returned to mix up an omelet and toast for her. She emerged from the bedroom looking dreamy and satisfied and sat at the tiny table waiting for me with the plate of food.

"I still have a hard time believing your cooking skills….I mean I'm human and don't do this well" she forked the bite of food into her mouth and bit the rye toast. I smiled just knowing I was making her happy. I was making Beth happy.

When she finished I carried away the plate and refilled her coffee mug and caught the newspaper off the front step. I held it under my arm while she maneuvered to comfort on the sofa.

"Beth, I have a confession…..are you in a receptive mood this morning?" She cocked her head at me and grinned and waved me over to sit beside her. I dropped the paper and joined her; she swung around to climb into my lap.

"Now…what could such an innocent love like you have to confess? Did you steal the paper off the neighbor's step?" she smiled as she fingered the Fleury cross I had placed on her neck last night.

_**She lives inside me, Oh heavens here tonight, She wakes me up just in time**_

Now…how nuts to I want to appear?

Do I

• Go back to my delusional love affair?

• Divulge the confidence of my clients?

Let's try this…..

"You know the day I called you…I was looking for a Beth Turner?"

"Uhum….you were my friendly wrong number" she smiled as she slid the smooth side of the necklace along her upper lip.

"The original Beth Turner was 4 years old when I had been hired to find her." I began, "The complication was that my Ex-wife had kidnapped the child to build us a family. Coraline knew I hated being a vampire that I wanted to be married with a family and a house and all that baby-boomer era stuff". Beth was almost distracting me with her intent look in her eyes.

I continued, "Vampires don't have families…we don't reproduce, so I wasn't sure why she kidnapped a child…I wasn't sure if she was going to turn the girl or have us raise her, it was all so fouled up….nothing was right about what Coraline did. When I followed the clues to the building where she was holding Beth we fought. Her age gave her superior strength…it was a bloody battle with this poor child in the corner cowering at the screams and bloodshed. I almost got my ass handed to me by my ex-wife and that was enough to really gather myself together and stake her. I staked her through to the floor. She had that vacant open eyed stare when I stood over her. I was sure she was paralyzed, you know as I had said….it just paralyzes us. I gathered up Beth and tossed the oil lantern to the sheets covering the furniture. The place was a tinder box, a very old frame building. It went up in seconds. Fire kills us, so Coraline in my mind was dead." By now my voice was quieter with less bravado.

"Isn't there a Vampire Police Force you could have called?" Beth asked the best questions…..can you see it, Vampire Dragnet?

"There was no time. Afterwards I called for a clean-up"

Beth's face told me she needed clarification on the term "Clean-up"

"Our Cleaners take care of accidents, they enforce the rules, and they protect and serve the vampire community"

"OK, you killed your ex-wife because she kidnapped a child and fought you….sounds like self-defense to me, not murder" Beth hadn't blanched once on my words…this woman is unflappable.

"So the years passed and I felt terrible that I had killed my sire because of the special bond we should have…and I say should have…Coraline and I never had the bond….it was different with her." By now my head was lower and I found it hard to keep eye contact. Beth tilted my chin to her and kissed my nose.

"Go on…" Imploring me with a gentle stroke through my hair, her arm resting along my shoulder, her warmth invigorating me.

"I felt even greater a guilt because I had hated Coraline…it didn't feel like self-defense, I felt like it was murder. I hated her for taking my life on our wedding night, I hated her for thinking little Beth could save our marriage"

"That's why you asked if I had been kidnapped?" she asked and I nodded yes.

"So…you have this overwhelming urge to tell me all of this…why?"

_**Now she's beside me, I feel I could die tonight, It feels like this love keeps me alive**_

"Because, my fascination with you…sprung from your name…the fact that you were everything I imagined that little victim of a child deserved to grow to be, a beautiful, vibrant woman with a full life. When you called me I was beside myself…..I wasn't going to call you, yet when you asked me to the school I felt 16 all over again" if I could have blushed…I would have.

"So I'm getting the feeling you feel odd for dating me, a Beth Turner….?" She bit at her bottom lip trying to understand.

"No….it doesn't feel odd loving a Beth Turner…I'm hoping you don't feel I love you for your name…that I love you for everything you are…" I was nearly whispering my pray to her.

"Mick…this is your big confession? When I'm the shallow one…calling the good looking guy from TV…hoping to get a date with this amazing knight in shining armor who avenges maidens who emerge from bars at 3am?" She threw her head back, grinning to a chuckle…"O, god, Mick I thought you were going to tell me your ex-wife wasn't dead…that you had a revelation and were returning to her…I thought I was about to lose you" She launched herself to kiss me and we nearly bumped chins and foreheads in her haste to meet lips.

_**Take this love it calls your name**_

_**No need to walk alone, from nowhere to now here**_

_**Change has come welcome in no need to walk alone nowhere to now here**_

I could have jumped her right her and now….I held her and kissed her and repeated "no, no, no….you'll never lose me….no…..not ever" between kisses and smiles. I drew back to see her blues eyes glossy with tears. I brushed them away with my thumb and lifted the hair out of her eyes.

"In fact, I was given an official Release, the kind of thing Vampires need to move on…last night. Coraline has been alive….and she's left me alone all these years. She was stronger than I knew, she pulled out her own stake and survived the fire, she left the country, left me alone." With this news Beth's face grew tense and worried.

"Beth, we have the entire world ahead of us. I'm a free man to pursue you, to love you, to marry you or if you're cautious you could test drive me….you know extended stays with me, especially with school out…we could travel. You could get to know more about my nature, whether ….." I was hesitating to even mention her curiosity about turning.

"I would ever want to join you?" She ran her finger along my lip, seeking the canines that lengthen when I turn. The feeling of her finger's soft fragrant skin silvered my eyes and my baby fangs emerged as I smiled at her inquisitiveness.

"If you would ever want to join me….yes, join with me. I would sire you in the gentlest manner; it would be like a virgin's tender deflowering, something beautiful and you'd raise up as my partner, forever." I held her gently, to disguise the power she had excited in me…..the very thought that one day I might sire her and we'd walk the darkening earth as a couple thrilled me.

"I need to know more, Mick…I need to spend more time with you….I need to see more…..about how you live….show me everything, my love." She rested in the hollow of my neck, nipping and kissing at my neck and throat….."I know I can't give you up…..so be honest with me…

_**From nowhere to now here, from nowhere to now here, No need to walk alone**_

We took a trip to the loft…I hadn't shared the secrets of the freezer room or the hidden blood fridge…

"Oh, this is like seeing the underground tunnels at Disney World" she giggled as I walked her into the freezer room. She looked around the room and stood back as I approached the freezer.

"Come, on, it doesn't bite…I do!" I motioned her over and pointed to the latch, "Press here" and she did, releasing the lid I put my arm around her and pulled her to peer over the edge, where I spent my hours away from her. "This is my most secret place, sharing this with you makes me vulnerable. I've never shared this with any other human; you are the very first and only one that knows where I lay"

"Do you sleep or dream?" she reached out to touch the diamond pattern in the glass.

"No, I lay down, close my eyes and I'm dead….literally dead. No dreams, no nightmares. While I am up, I'm undead".

"Isn't it hard? I mean, wouldn't a mattress feel better?" her eyebrows rose at the thought of the flat hard glass beneath me.

"Once I close my eyes I don't feel it…remember…I'm dead".

Beth peered over with an inquiring eye, "Do you wear pajamas, or even use a pillow?"

"Nope to either" I grinned and she blushed and then she lowered the lid hearing the whoosh of the hydraulic hinges.

"How does it work?" she asked.

"The Freezer is electric with a generator backup, if…." She stopped me with a hand up

"How do you turn someone?" she asked pensively.

I wanted to be accurate yet not frightening…"The Sire takes the prospective Fledgling into a comfortable surrounding. Usually when it's a couple there might be a seduction involved because the bite would enhance both of our orgasms" she was nodding and fingering the necklace as she listened intently.

"Once I bite, I draw your blood into me; I listen for your heartbeat. You'll slip into a dream state and when your body is nearly drained, just an ember of life left, I bite myself and feed you my blood from my wrist. At this point the Fledgling is at their weakest and most dependent on their Sire. There could be a bit of pain as the body dies, it's hard to get used to not breathing all the time. You have to learn to filter out all the sights and sounds…..our senses are insanely intense. We're quick and strong and it's overwhelming in the beginning. You have to learn how often you need to feed. The hardest thing is not showing off….it's such a rush to do some of the things we do. That's why we generally stay to ourselves." I drew her to me, scenting her curiosity and emotion.

"How long is it before the Fledgling is a, a…..independent?" she played with the buttons on my Henley.

"As in how independent, like driving or circulating among humans in daylight?" I asked as we walked back into the bedroom and stretched across the bed.

"Outside, around humans?" She looked around at the open windows that I had covered with grates and UV glass.

"Any sun is too much sun, perhaps the first 6 months we'd go somewhere the days are short and the nights are long while you get used to it. You'll always want to be well fed, just to keep down the blood lust. A berserk vamp is bad for the entire Tribe…..they put them down. By the time you've spent a year like this you'd know your strengths, have a handle on your weaknesses and begin to circulate within the world." She nodded in understanding at my statements and wrapped herself into me, "This is the hardest part. Your friends, your family they have to be out of the loop. You could only visit when you have yourself under control. Coraline never explained that to me so I had to give up my family, I was a danger to them the way she raised me. I would raise you differently, we'd be close. I'd feel your apprehensions and fears as well as your accomplishments."

"You make it all seem so clear….no aging…..no illness….we could travel, I could write" she strummed my chest with the backs of her fingers.

Then she stopped suddenly and asked, "What do vamps do for money…they don't need doctors…do you have to pay taxes for eternity?" she began to ramble questions off like a five year old….

"We work, we don't need doctors as we heal when fed properly in most cases, each of us pays taxes when we work and we also ante up to the Tribe to cover the cost of the Cleaners and other Vamp business" I got a chuckle out of those questions.

"This bears for some serious consideration, Mick….this could be really interesting…the two of us….together….for a long, long time. Wouldn't you be afraid you'd get bored of me in a couple of years?"

"If you want to wait, we can wait as long as you'd like….whatever age you turn at is the age you stay. I'm still a few years ahead of you" This conversation was easier than I thought it would be.

"Right….like I want the world to think I'm walking around with a younger man…" Beth quipped as she snuggled deeper into my caress and slid on top of me, straddling my hips. "Mick St John…you do entice a girl…now….what can I do to entice you?"

_**From nowhere to now here, from nowhere to now here, No need to walk alone**_

_**From nowhere to now here, from nowhere to now here**_

Later that day…

**Part 3**

Mick's POV

Unfinished business….It bites when you are the one on the end of it. The last person in the room and the last one out, scratching your head wondering "What fuck just happened here?" Everyone else cool, calm, in control.

I went back to Josef's, still pissed at the fact he's known Coraline was walking this earth since 1999. What's he going to say, it was a Millennium glitch? He's been thru 4 centuries….dealing with dates should be a breeze by now.

I took a chair and a blond a 1985 0+. A lovely finance grad student. There she presented herself, petite and fit – all business, just the way I like my dinner. I felt her relax once she sat in my lap and presented her throat although I deferred to her wrist, a less personal intrusion. The entire transaction occurred almost wordlessly, Amber was a pure pro I thought as I lay her down.

I felt like I needed an extra helping just to confront Josef so I went back to the gym and caught the eye of one of my favorites, there she was at fencing practice, epee in hand, mask at her side, suiting up to challenge one of the male Freshies….spunky Lynnette. This solidly built redhead, an A+ spitfire exuded a certain confidence in a mansion full of fashion model Freshies. She saw me and smiled….

"Hey, Mick, want to dress out?" she tilted her head to the closet full of gear.

"No, I was thinking if you were in rotation you might be available" I bit as I lifted my wrist, a little pantomime.

"Sure, you got the hunger I've got the juice" she shook her head at her prospective opponent and he nodded and walked away. She pulled off the fencing tunic and hung up her epee, joining me in an alcove off the gym.

"Lynnette, it's one of those days when I need dessert, how are you doing?"

"Fine Mick, I just finished a café au lait and a couple of beignets that the new Louisiana cook made this morning…ummm I could hear my arteries clog the minute they hit my mouth, do you see them on my hips yet?" she laughed as she wiggled her ass at me.

"So I'm in for a sweet ride?" I asked as she set that fine round ass on my lap. She took a slow breath and offered her pale freckled wrist to me. I felt the change and held her wrist in one hand, my other arm around her waist. I scented the sweat of her warm up in the gym, the chicory in the café au lait and the fresh oil the beignets were fried in.

Within seconds the flavors were mixing on my tongue, and I was swallowing her succulent sweetness. I felt the softness of her thighs and the flesh covering her tight glutes. Lynnette was soft and strong and tasty. Her blood hit me like a whip and I rode the crest of her piquant blood until I scented her arousal and felt her heat on my lap. As I unlatched I thought, girl, you pack a wallop in your 5'6". I retired her to a chaise in the library, where she slept long side the finance student. Now I was ready to talk to Josef about 1999.

Very Important YouTube Soundtrack…. Elton John - Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

http:/ www. Youtube .com/ watch?v=5GYI6XJH9Ss

"Are you over your fit?" Josef asked as he walked the aisle of his command center, his eyes never leaving the flat screens along the wall.

"My FIT?" I shook my head as I approached him, hands in my jeans pockets flush with Lynnette's blood boiling thru my body. My eyebrow clued him to my mood and he snapped his fingers once, clearing his staff from their seats.

"My fit?" I repeated almost nose to nose with him. He hated the fact that I had about an inch over him – he always pulled himself up when I was in one of my moods.

"You need to close the book, take Coraline's Release and don't look back" he spoke matter of factly with that flat, straight expression Josef was so good at wearing.

"What I want to know is why YOU never mentioned 1999?" Where was Coraline when you saw her?" I was demanding answers…..

Josef turned without registering a response, he headed for the bar a tell on his discomfort. "Scotch? I have an excellent small batch single malt you'll find pleasant" he offered.

By now my hands were on my hips and I was about 2 paces away from him, "Sure", I figured I might as well burn inside body and soul.

Josef went to his usual talking/drinking position, his desk chair and began… "1996, I was in Zurich, messing with all the Millennium crap. I was in The Club and saw Lance, her brother. He was agitated about a deal that some Midwest Newspaper was balking at. He mentioned he was sending his sister to use her allure to close the sale" Josef picked at imaginary lint on the cuff of his trouser as he thought about that week. "So as I left there was a Ferrari, the abomination was almost pink and behind the wheel sat Coraline Duvall St John."

"How did you know she was using my name?" I queried…not at all happy.

"Because the valet jumped out to her, opened the door and greeted her "Nice to have you with us again, Mrs. St John" Josef was resigned that she used the name without my knowledge.

"So then you knew and you never thought I should be aware of it?" I leaned forward, putting the empty glass on his desk.

"Mick….what's in a vampire's name? It's not like she was parading around with a pool boy that she passed off as Mr. St John. Think back to 1999, you were happy, working hard….you didn't need the aggravation. Coraline stayed out of the country until just the other day when she came by with your Release. Did you want to open up a series of incidents with her family? Did you ever understand how heinous they all are?"

I had sat back to listen and my mind wandered to the fantasy about a vampire cure, how Lance was such a despicable specter. It was all embroiled in the period of time where I had delusions of wanting to be human for that "imaginary Beth"…..My head popped back up once Josef had stopped talking.

"Mick, think back to the last time you had marital relations with her? What was it, 1982, 1984?" he scratched at his neck and went to pour more scotch.

1983

Mick's POV:

I was November; I was throwing the few things I had purchased for myself into a suitcase. My latest departure from the party house would have about as much effect on Coraline as when Kiss appeared on MTV without their makeup…no biggie for her. In the past 12 months I had been out and back at least 8 times. Lately we had fought over my fascination with music, it seemed to fit my nocturnal lifestyle yet she didn't like the endless stream of groupies waiting at the end of the stage….my retort was,

"What about the men who drive away from the party house as I come home at dawn?"

It had been another knock down/drag out fight with blood and hair all over the living room. Even the makeup sex hadn't been that great. She begrudged me her naked body and left on her peignoir set as she let me take her on the black leather sofa. It was a grudge fuck pure and simple. She pouted in her freezer while I braved the sunrise's rays to head for parts unknown.

I wanted to be fiercely independent and it didn't work at all….her money had eclipsed anything I earned in any of my endeavors. I was a bought and paid for man. When I was with her I felt like a gigolo, when I was alone I was looking over my shoulder at the men who knew I was her "latest", yeah…."latest"….not her husband. In the 21 years after the wedding that went awry I was still just Coraline's "latest".

I was hurt, I just wanted to be Mick St John again…. without a wife.

_**The roses in the window box have tilted to one side everything about this house was born to grow and die**_

_**Oh it doesn't seem a year ago to this very day**_

_**You said "I'm sorry honey if I don't change the pace I can't face another day"**_

_**And love lies bleeding in my hand oh it kills me to think of you with another man**_

_**I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan but my guitar couldn't hold you so I split the band**_

_**Love lies bleeding in my hands**_

_**I wonder if those changes have left a scar on you like all the burning hoops of fire that you and I passed through**_

_**You're a bluebird on a telegraph line I hope you're happy now**_

_**Well if the wind of change comes down your way girl you'll make it back somehow**_

_**And love lies bleeding in my hand oh it kills me to think of you with another man**_

_**I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan but my guitar couldn't hold you so I split the band**_

_**Love lies bleeding in my hand, And love lies bleeding in my hand oh it kills me to think of you with another man**_

_**I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan but my guitar couldn't hold you so I split the band, Love lies bleeding in my hand**_

When I approached Josef about honest work, all he needed was muscle and I didn't like to bust my knuckles for a paycheck. Oddly he had some industrial espionage at Kostan Industries that needed some undercover work and while I begged him for vamp advice he saw a talent I didn't know I had. I acted my way through the job, kind of like being a musician without the guitar. Once the deal was captured and the ungrateful employees dispatched to the authorities I was somewhat elevated, given an office and out of the knuckle busting business. Computers were erupting onto the scene, cellular phones where arriving…..corruption was burgeoning. I had job security.

"You don't need her, you know?" Josef simply stated New Year's Eve, 1983. He was enjoying his role as host at the mansion party.

"I could use her money….don't need her crap…" I lamented. Personally I was enjoying a bubbly blond, all curves and curls. She kept me on my toes sexually and intellectually, I thought I had the world by the ass until the bank statement arrived each month.

"I'll toss your name to some friends who need a guy for outside work, you can get set up and we'll get you into the investments with the rest of the guys. It'll be tight for a couple of years then once it takes off you won't look back" Josef lifted his glass in a toast and walked off on the arm of a redhead I'd duel for.

Josef was pretty damn sure about it all. He must have had a clairvoyant Freshie that he had been sucking on. Fact is…he was right. Within a couple of years I was doing more and moved to my Drexel address. I hadn't given Coraline another thought until I scented her in Nancy Turner's little home the night she hired me to find Beth.

Back to Josef's office

Mick's POV:

I was still in the chair with my head resting on the chair back when that scent wafted in….. All 5'8" of her…..tall, dark and scandalous.

"Hello, Mick" she purred as she entered Josef's command center, "Hello, Josef" she sashayed into my eyesight and I immediately rose to leave… my life was too good to invite her into it. "Don't leave on my account, Mick. I'm just leaving the papers on the party house with Josef. I'm buying you out of your share; the check should be to you within the week."

"Why now, Coraline? I mean, why have you waited all these years to give me my freedom?" I just wanted to know what scrap she'd serve up on a platter.

"Mick, our feelings ran pretty hot for each other…I was hoping time could cool things down, give us some perspective. Also, I've taken back my maiden name, I understand you were disturbed that I was using St John….my family didn't care for it either, so that's been added to a codicil. I'm leaving for Asia next week and wanted to be done with all of this". Coraline actually sounded like a rational, reasoning woman…I had to shake my head to comprehend it all.

"So….I don't have to worry about you kidnapping children to get me back?" I asked with Josef as a witness.

She glanced at Josef like it was an unfortunate gaff like spilling salt at a dinner party, "Mick I was unwise, misguided. You made your feelings known, the stake was one thing, the fire was totally unnecessary. I understand that the child was, was….." she began to hesitate and choose her words wisely, "The girl has had problems of her own since that night"

"You're damn straight she has…..her whole life has been altered. She's still floundering." I was emphatic and in that defensive stance again…I forced myself to step back, I wiped my face and pinched at the bridge of my nose…closed my eyes to think.

"Josef told me about her….Mick…I can't take the night back. Josef is setting up a Trust for her and her Mother and Son. She won't know where it is from, she doesn't need to know. The letter will go out to Mrs. Bishop this week".

This wasn't the Coraline I had invented in my delusions….this was not a woman stalking my girlfriend, not a woman posing…..this was a business woman regretting her past and leaving it tied up with financial remunerations for those she blighted so long ago. I could blanch, but it wasn't worth stirring the pot. I reached out to shake her delicate hand and she placed a small black velvet box into my hand. Confused, I stopped to open the box and saw the simple gold wedding band and the meager engagement ring I had worked so hard to present to her in 1952.

"These were the very best you had to offer me. I should have realized your honesty and fled, yet if I had….would you are where you are now? I hope everything I put you through is diminished by what's ahead for you, Mick" and she brushed my hair off my forehead. "I like the way you look, like your hair longer. You look good, Mick" and she waved at Josef, who stepped up to brush cheeks in a hurried good-bye.

"Thanks, Coraline, have a safe trip" I stood there scratching my head, holding the velvet box, wondering how to trust all of this. Thinking about how my angst, paranoia and delusions had created a she-demon. Every story has 3 sides….my side…her side…and the truth.

3 Months Later

Mick's POV

Beth never went back to school….at least as a teacher. She's working on a fellowship in writing and she's spending more time at the loft.

"Hello, Mick?" she trilled as she used her remote to open the door. Her hands were full of grocery sacks as she turned to push the door shut with her foot. I grasped the bags from her and set them on the counter, returning to crush her in hugs and kisses.

"Babe- I've missed you today" I grabbed her cheeks through her khakis pants and slid my hands up her back. I felt her nipples through her gauzy blouse and lacey bra.

She looked at her watch and made a humorous face, "It's only 6pm, how long have you been up?" she hooked her thumbs in the back of my pajama pants and slid them around to snap the waistband back at me. When it snapped I pretended she hurt me and I made a face, grabbing at myself in mock pain.

"Poor baby" she grinned as she began putting away the fruits and veggies in the fridge. I stalked behind her playfully annoying her.

"Your poor baby has something for you" I whispered and it stopped her in her tracks

"What? Is it bigger than a breadbox?" she laughed as she poured herself an Ice tea and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the island.

"Close your eyes" I asked, grabbing the box from the top shelf where I had stowed it earlier this afternoon. I stood on the other side of the island and pushed the gold box within her reach. "OK…open your eyes" I asked.

Beth picked up the box. It seemed heavy for its size and she weighed it in her hand with a curious look before springing it open. She held it up to peer closely, as if mesmerized by the artistry. I had a more delicately styled version of my ring made, something to flatter her hand. Beneath the cross lay a moonstone just as mine does. Inside the engraving said "Your heart was worth the wait, I'm eternally yours, Mick"

**Part 4**

1 Month after Part 3

Mick's POV

Josef grinned whenever he saw us, vamp and human wearing identical pendants and rings. He even mentioned that if we began to dress alike he was sending the Armani team in for a fashion intervention. I agreed and made sure the closet space was sufficient for Beth's new fashion choices. Somewhere along the way the little twill jumpers and Laura Ashley dresses were left at the charity kiosk and she was dressing in slim khakis or denim skirts and gauzy peasant tops. I loved how the pendant danced between her breasts, but I digress.

With Beth at my side, I was a new Vampire. Work was steady and even with the insane business atmosphere I was sitting solid. I would open up my accounts and peer with one eye, waiting to see the latest "Market Adjustment" as Josef called them. Then I'd sigh and go back to work.

According to Josef and Simone, Beth and I were blending into a couple, from Beth Turner and Mick St John into MickBeth. I guess if Brad and Angelina can be Brangelina….we can be MickBeth.

The next week would prove to be a challenge…

What do they say, "Pride goeth Before the Fall?" I had hoped my new found happiness wasn't proud by any aspect…, seeking, thrilled, and satisfied? Yes, Beth brought me to where we could enjoy each other and seek a future together. Then there was this day…..

I was early arriving at Beth's we had a date at Josef's and we were doing some wine shopping before the evening. In the daylight I parked and headed into the lobby and up the stairs. As I entered the hallway I scented a "doom and gloom" aura that wasn't emanating from any of the other apartments as I passed them. I halted at #5 and my fist hung before it knocked as I heard Beth's quiet whimper…a sound only a vamp could hear. I knocked and waited.

Anthony swung the door open and held it in his left fist, his right arm braced on the doorframe, his fist above his head. "Mick St John, imagine you showing up before dusk".

I winced at his comment and stood, hands in my duster pockets, counting to ten over and over silently. "Are we doing this in the hallway or may we confront each other in the privacy of Beth's apartment?" I quietly asked, peering around for eavesdroppers.

Anthony stepped back, holding the door just wide enough to admit me. His shoulder brushed mine as I passed. His behavior astounded me. If he knew what I was he'd know I could break him in two….this was a testosterone infused gesture. I neglected Anthony the minute I saw Beth huddled in the corner of the sofa. I went to her and felt the remnant of Anthony's body heat on the cushion next to her. Once I took her hand I saw why she was overwhelmed with fear and sadness.

Anthony had entered her apartment while Beth showered. He sat in the bedroom chair and waited as she emerged in her robe. He hadn't laid a hand on her. This abuse was all mental. He taunted her about leaving school teaching, not visiting her parents, becoming a writer, about spending so much time at my place and the coup de grace – he had brought copies of all my identifying documents.

Sting brings us this chapter's YouTube soundtrack: Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith In You

http:/ /www. youtube. com/ watch?v=ma6Tnggkr5s

_**You could say I lost my faith in science and progress, you could say I lost my belief in the holy church**_

_**You could say I lost my sense of direction, you could say all of this and worse but**_

_**If I ever lose my faith in you there'd be nothing left for me to do**_

Within the scope of his bullying I was proud of how she was truly holding up. She put a façade of the old Beth for Anthony while I saw my Beth in her eyes when I held her… There on the coffee table sat copied of my licenses, original birth certificate, marriage license to Coraline and military records. He wasn't sure of what I was, but he assailed her for being a freak for being with me. He even taunted her about being at Josef's that night after the symphony, called it the Playboy Mansion West. If the jackass only had any idea of what it was…

Beth's swollen eyes and shaking shoulders broke my heart because she was experiencing this over me. I held her and whispered, "I love you, Beth" as I smoothed her hair and wiped a tear away. "Has he touched you?" I asked loud enough for him to hear.

"Mick, I love you, he's scaring me", she whispered as she shook her head no to the "touching" question. I settled alongside her on the sofa and directed my attention to Anthony.

"The lady has requested you to leave her alone on several occasions, if your beef is with me, why harass Beth?" He paced the path in front of the coffee table.

"She's the way to you, Mick. You've got the high rise loft; you've got the connected friends. If I want your attention I get a hold of your girl. The girl who was mine….my girl" Anthony's vitriolic rant tapered off as he stood still grinding his heels into the carpet.

I sat there evaluating our options. According to Josef he could be tabulated as collateral damage. Within our new relationship he could cause a badly tainted beginning for us, very badly tainted.

_**Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world, you could say I lost my faith in the people on TV**_

_**You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians; they all seemed like game show hosts to me**_

_**If I ever lose my faith in you there'd be nothing left for me to do**_

We had to think our way out of this situation. Anything supra human would result in him knowing more about me than he already suspected. If I let him take me out of the building what options are there? He's got an idea that I'm different so any of my options seem to end with a call to the Cleaner.

If Beth were taken, could she keep my secret? I was unclear about the depths of his depravity to know what he would to extract information from her now that she was done with him.

I could ask him to leave and make a call to Josef, leaving the blood on Josef's hands and the disappearance a discreet act. Only one of us would have the burden weighing on us. I could assume the guilt if she let me.

"What do you want with me?" I asked.

"I want to know what you are" he answered flatly.

"I'm Mick St John, a son, Beth's boyfriend, a private investigator, Member of the Mercedes Benz Classic Car Club of LA, Shoe size 10.5 and I like single malt scotch…." Anthony tossed the documents at me and I caught them flipping through them with feigned disinterest. Is anything private anymore?

"You look pretty good for 85" he barked.

"That's my Grandfather," I said as I tossed back the forms, nonchalantly. "I'm named after him, we look a lot alike"

"So much that you share social security numbers? There is no record of a 30 year old Mick St John…." His chin jutted at me, right ahead of his chest. There was no winning the argument I should just reach out and snap his neck. I concentrated on keeping eye contact with him, when I noticed movement in my peripheral vision. Anthony's eyes locked mine and he stood in his bully pose, taunting me with more abject insults about Beth choosing me over him.

_**I could be lost inside their lies without a trace, but every time I close my eyes I see your face**_

_**I never saw no miracle of science that didn't go from a blessing to a curse**_

_**I never saw no military solution that didn't always end up as something worse but let me say this first**_

Beth had grabbed the letter opener from the end table and sprung upward holding the replica of the "Sword in the Stone" from the crystal stone in both her hands. She propelled her 120 pounds over the coffee table into him, aiming the weapon onto his gut rather than his chest and ribs. The force of her hurling weight tossed him flat on his back driving the 8" blade into him. As he struggled with the pain she brought down her forearm on his larynx over and over and over….she was ruthless in her attack, whimpering "No" with each thrust. As he struggled less she clamped her forearm over his mouth and nose.

There I was, the deadly vampire while my girlfriend attacker her intruder. Time seem altered as I observed his movement and heartbeat slow. I understood the level of her hatred when she kept clamped down on him. I heard his stillness and stood frozen.

"Beth, Beth" I implored her to climb off him, I helped pull her off and she snapped back to reality, staring as his body bled out on her beige carpet. The spreading stain had halted with his last heartbeat.

_**If I ever lose my faith in you there'd be nothing left for me to do**_

As I held her and cradled her face she sobbed slowly and quietly. When I could release her she nervously paced collecting the documents he had thrown at me, checking the pockets of his jacket tossed on the island. She stood over the island ripping and tearing the papers to bits in a bowl and adding hot water until it was all pulp. Jesus, she was a terminator, talk about the female being the deadlier of the species.

"Beth, we need to call the authorities" I walked to the door and threw the deadbolt and returned to the living room. "We have two options, we call the police and whoever claims his possessions may find the trail he took researching me. I can call the Cleaner and they'll handle his evidence and his disappearance".

She huddled on the sofa with her knees up to her chin, "What do you think?" she was numb and flat by now.

"I believe the Cleaner will do the job thoroughly, nothing will connect back to us." I held my phone ready for her to agree with me. She nodded and I dialed.

"Cleaner, location, please" the professional voice was friendly and professional. I gave the address and went to sink for a glass of water for Beth. We sat and within 15 minutes there was a soft knock on the door. I opened the door and allowed the crew inside. We spoke under toned for Beth's sake.

"Mick, did you do this?" she pulled out her pad as she surveyed the room, her assistant cruised through the bedroom and bath returning with a backpack I hadn't seen. She laid it aside the jacket on the island.

"No, he came demanding answers about what I was, he held Beth hostage and threatened her until I came to pick her up for an evening at Josef's. Then he showed his evidence that I wasn't normal, although he didn't know what I was. I suspect he's got all kinds of notes at home if you understand me? I think we ….." She cut me off

"Mick, you're in good hands, we'll take a crew by his home and extricate any damaging evidence then we'll handle the accidental death. Leave it up to us, Mick. Which car is his?"

"Beth, which car is his?" I asked as she stared past the girls in black leather. I took the key fob and walked to the balcony, hitting the unlock feature the red SLK 280 below the window chirped. I tossed the keys to the Cleaner and took Beth into the bedroom while they worked.

I asked her to lay back and I rinsed a washrag in cool water and lay it on her forehead. I stroked her arms to calm her and stretched out alongside her. I decided to rethink our evening's activities with Josef and I made a short call to cancel the visit. I set up her iPod for some quiet music and returned to her side. Carefully I slid off her jeans and blouse, lifting the covers over her. I poured a glass of wine for her and a scotch for and dimmed the lights as I undressed. Among the collection of fluffy pillows I propped us up in the bed and I held Beth while the music played.

Please open a second window in YouTube for this song... Norah Jones, the Nearness of You

http:/ /www. youtube. com/ watch?v=MI5NXqGRP0w

I gently sang along with Norah until Beth began to respond to my voice, running her fingers down the center of my chest, following the line of chest hair down into my boxer shorts. She meshed her fingers into my thatch of hair until she hit skin and she stroked me, giving me shivers. An hour ago she was killing a man who threatened us and now she was exciting me with light strokes of her nails along my stiffening length.

My back straightened out until I lay flat and she climbed over me, sliding my boxers further down my hips, releasing my full erection to lie back on my stomach. I went to speak and she put her finger to my lips and shook her head as she took me in her hands and straddled my thighs. I snapped the sides of her thong and flung it into the darkness then Beth bent over and held my length delicately, kissing with wet lips before she placed herself over me and teased herself with my swollen end as I trembled. I wanted her to fall on me, let me fill her, wanted her to strangle my length with her heat. I wanted Beth to ride me into a peaceful oblivion, until we could shatter reality and bring it back on our terms. One shared glance between us and she began our sexually charged ramblings for the evening.

_**It's not the pale moon that excites me that thrills and delights me, Oh no; it's just the nearness of you**_

_**It isn't your sweet conversation that brings this sensation, Oh no; it's just the nearness of you**_

_**When you're in my arms and I feel you so close to me, all my wildest dreams came true**_

_**I need no soft lights to enchant me if you would only grant me the right to hold you ever so tight and to feel in the night the nearness of you**_

**Part 5**

Mick's POV:

Since the night the Cleaners visited we hadn't spent much time at Beth's apartment. That provided the impetus to move her into the loft and one step closer to forever.

Although the carpet had been replaced and the furniture rearranged we knew exactly where Anthony had drawn his last breath.

Two Months later

We were settled in the loft early one evening as Beth was watching Casablanca for the 45th time. I was sorting books, working a few of Beth's books into my collection. The Genealogy book fit perfectly alongside the HG Wells books. It piques me to ask

"When am I going to meet your parents?"

"Oh….good question" Beth Chuckled…"I should show you photos just to make sure you don't know them" She had seen me avoid circumstances where people might remember Mick St John, musician or medic. We had a few spare days so we made our plans.

I put together some road snacks for me and found a vamp friendly hotel while Beth made plans with her folks. We'd leave tomorrow for our "meet the folks" adventure.

"Mick, just remember, Mon's a history buff if you want to keep her from trying to feed you, talk about World War II...just not in the first person..." Beth suggested as she packed her suitcase into the back seat. "Then if Dad gets too nosy, ask him to show you his Xbox and play his a round of Tiger Woods Golf"

Tonight's YouTube soundtrack is, Rob Thomas…..Little Wonders

http:/ www. Youtube .com/ watch?v=jsT2URr1Igc

_**Let it go, let it roll right off your shoulder don't you know the hardest part is over**_

_**Let it in, let your clarity define you in the end we will only just remember how it feels**_

It was nice weather and I dropped the top as the sun melted into the horizon. The Turners were surprised to have heard from us and were happy to see the vintage Benz pull into the driveway. We were settled in the comfortable family room with drinks in hand while I sat back and observed the verbal tennis match between Beth and her parents…. News about people she knew, relatives she hadn't heard from in a while, and things I just sat and nodded at while the three of them reconnected. My being there left the subject of Anthony off the agenda.

"Did you hear that Jennifer and Mark are buying a home down the street?" Alice asked as she stood before the large aquarium, feeding the fish. Beth grinned and explained to me "Jennifer and I were joined at the hip from 6th thru 12th grade, and then she went off to the Ohio State University and met Mark. She sold him on the weather out here"

I nodded as it made sense…only a Vampire would appreciate Ohio winters.

"Did you call her to let her know you were dropping in?" Her Dad asked as he eyed his game controller…itching to play and be out of conversation.

"No, Dad, this visit was for you and Mom"…Beth reached over and patted him on his knee.

Then "Dad" asked…. "Mick, I understand you have your own business?"

"Yes, sir" it was instinctual. I am 85 years old and I am referring to a 56 year old man as sir because he's Beth's Dad. "I am a Private Investigator"

"I'll bet you stay busy in LA, how'd you end up in business like that?" Another question….

OK, here's where the fibbing begins…..I thought as Beth gave me the sly smile I have learned is her "can't wait to hear this" smile.

"It was a family business and it was one of those opportunities I couldn't pass up" I didn't need to paint a big picture….this was enough for their purposes.

"Are your parents in LA, Mick?" Beth's Mom, Alice asked smiling as she sat near Beth now, enjoying seeing her daughter.

"My parents were older when I was born, they are both deceased". There, that went well I thought. Then I thought about Beth's comment about history and I swept the conversation to Europe. "Mrs. Turner, have you ever travelled the battlefields of Europe?" that was enough to carry us to their bedtime and we excused ourselves for the hotel. I got the impression they were hoping Beth would stay in her room, they were a little shocked that she would admit to leaving their home to go to as hotel with her boyfriend. Imagine that in 2008…..So I asked Beth on the drive home.

"Are we going to make any announcements tomorrow when we visit?" I caught her looking at her heavy white gold and moonstone ring as she thought. "You know the kind where you say, Mom, Dad… Mick and I have moved in together and we're planning on getting married….."

"Oh, I can imagine how happy Dad will be that I've moved in with a man…how about we go straight to the engagement part?" She smiled at me.

"I'd be happy to ask for your hand in marriage…that was always a way to win the parent's hearts when I was younger" My age was showing.

"Just as long as I can be there…I don't want to feel like you are brokering a real estate deal and I'm the parcel of land" She seemed to be laughing yet I knew she meant every word.

_**Our lives are made in these small hours**_

_**These little wonders, these twists & turns of fate**_

_**Time falls away, but these small hours, these small hours still remain**_

As the sun set we headed out for another evening of my learning about Beth's childhood, their family stories and the grand show….my asking for Beth's hand in marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. Turner….DO you give your daughter's hand to this 85 year old Vampire in holy wedlock…till death do they part? Oh, damn….he's already DEAD. Doesn't that nullify the agreement?

_**Let it slide, let your troubles fall behind you**_

_**Let it shine until you feel it all around you**_

_**And I don't mind if it's me you need to turn to we'll get by,**_

_**It's the heart that really matters in the end**_

We got situated around the pool, in the rich darkness of a new moon and listened to the pool filter as it ran behind our conversation. Just when everyone was situated and I had declined cheesecake for the third time, I figured I'd make my move.

"Beth and I have been dating a while. We've talked about the future and I wanted to ask for her hand in marriage…we haven't set a date yet. I guess I wanted to know that we had your blessing before we made plans."

I watched their body language and their response and it seemed they were honestly pleased with Beth's desires and me as a partner. Of course there was the general female response of Beth's Mom, jumping to hug us and the Father of the Bride giving me the back slap and the handshake…..as well as the fish eye for taking his daughter to a hotel during the trip. In all, it wasn't the torch bearing mob that I expected.

We chatted about their wedding, the story about their Disney World Honeymoon and all things competitive in Wedding ceremonies and receptions. And I thought I was being respectful asking for Beth's hand. Little did I know I was opening Pandora's Box?

"So, now all we have to do is plan the wedding…." Alice was gushing as the look on Beth's face drained of all color….. I took this as our cue to say good night…make plans to return in a while and thank them for their hospitality. We headed back to the hotel all the while Beth was bemoaning the long distance calls and the trips back and forth prior to the actual day.

_**Our lives are made in these small hours these little wonders,**_

_**These twists & turns of fate time falls away,**_

_**But these small hours, these small hours still remain**_

_**All of my regret will wash away somehow**_

_**But I cannot forget the way I feel right now**_

"I can't do it" Beth said flatly in the car on the way to the hotel, her head was back on the seat, totally resigned.

"You can't marry me?" I was about to stroke out…this was too much for me to hear while I was driving, I pulled the car to the shoulder of the road., "What? You can't marry me?"

"I'll be thrilled to marry you….I just cannot have a big wedding….can't go through the months of preparation….all my Mom's harping about what we need, what has to be done…The angst about the ceremony, the reception the flowers"…she was droning on and I just held up a referee hand.

"Let's run off….we can be in Vegas in 24 hours, call Josef and Simone to meet us there…No prep, just do it, OK?" I was excited by the notion and hoped she was too.

"Yeah…let's do that…let's leave from here…just what we have now. I like the idea…no I LOVE the idea…"Beth jumped into my lap and we drove to the airport while Beth used my phone to call Josef.

"Josef? Guess what? Yes, we're fine, how are you? Yes, Mick is driving, he asked me to call you…..we're heading to the airport…no we don't need your plane…You're going to need your plane. We're going to Las Vegas; we're getting married and want you and Simone there with us." She was back to giggling. "Yes….can you get there for tomorrow evening? Well, no, we don't know where we'll be….OK, here's Mick…" Beth handed the phone to me.

"What the hell is going on, Mick?" Josef was laughing….

"We don't want a big to-do,…we figure if we run off Beth's parents won't have a Cecil B DeMille production. Honestly I don't know where we are going, yes it was spur of the moment, and that's the way we wanted it."

"Mick, wait for us at the airport in Vegas, meet us at the private airstrip. I have an idea….we have family out there." The phone clicked off and we looked at each other with that "Josef is taking care of everything look" we had come to be used to.

_**In these small hours these little wonders**_

_**These twists & turns of fate, these twists & turns of fate**_

The Venetian hotel staff followed Josef like lap dogs and they seemed incredulous that he wasn't seeking the puffery of a full reception.

Of course Josef had to give us the quickie of the year….a wedding thrown together at the Venetian….and what a place to throw together a ceremony. We were wed in the white wedding gondola a little after sunset the next day, just the 4 of us and the hotel celebrant. It was lavish for the ladies to have spent the day in the spa and it was only what we needed…to be legally bonded after so many months of being spiritually bonded. Beth was a vision in a simple ivory crème crepe gown, she carried the bouquet of white roses bound in deep red ribbons and I wanted to devour her in the heartiest of our sexual appetites.

We flew back with Josef and Simone in his private jet holding the photo book with the digital shots of the ceremony and Beth's white rose bouquet.

By dawn we were home in the loft….husband and wife….Mr. & Mrs. Mick St John. I liked the sound of it, and so did Beth.

_**Time falls away but these small hours**_

_**These small hours, still remain, still remain**_

_**These little wonders, these twists & turns of fate**_

_**Time falls away but these small hours these little wonders still remain**_

**Part 6, Finale "A"**

3 weeks after part 5

Mick's POV:

We were laying there in bed, Beth getting burrowed in for sleep….I was about to head for the freezer. We were both spent; Beth's head nestled in my chest. I had the taste of her satisfaction in the hollow of my mouth. Beth's dreams had taken over and she began forming soundless words. Her face smiled as the responses in her dream and as I felt the dream end sounded words slipped between her lips…."When, Mick, When?"

When I rose that evening her dream question was hanging in the back of my brain. Beth had slipped out of bed and was showering as I padded about the loft, brewing her some coffee, setting out some cheese and fruit for her. I love the smell of brewing coffee, you know I can even get a candle that smells like coffee, but the grind and brew pot really is my first choice for the heady aroma.

"What's your schedule" Beth stood towel drying her hair. The length was returning, as she hadn't cut it since our first date.

"A little honest work and then I thought we'd go for a walk on the beach, it's almost a new moon so it will be nice and dark" I stood pouring my breakfast as the lights of the city began to twinkle on.

"Sure, I'll pack some dessert for me and a bottle of wine" Beth was radiant and I didn't know if it was from her dropping her head over to fluff her hair or if it was the thought of a midnight walk on the beach. I just know she's beautiful to me.

She's adapted to my schedule since the wedding although she usually wakes about 2 or 3pm and gets the daytime stuff done…connecting with the her writing cronies or just returning some calls for me. We both get our "work" done usually by 1 or 2 am and then enjoy each other until the small hours of the morning.

Tonight I was using work as a ruse to have a heart to heart with Josef.

"So, Ward, how's June…are you taking it easy on the Beaver?" Josef smirked as I walked into his den….

"Very clever….Josef…resorting to genital humor…very clever…If you must know married life is agreeing with both of us. I've not heard one complaint" I'd have made a crack back at him, only his attention was fully on the poolside tableau of Freshies swimming topless in the glow of the pool lights.

"Right…..so what's on your mind?" Josef swiveled the chair around to grin at me then rose to pour drinks.

"I forgot the protocol" I admitted, using air quotes for the word protocol.

"On what?" I could see Josef twitching a bit.

"On turning" I answered

"As in YOU turning Beth?" he seemed incredulous…like it was a project he thought was outside my scope of skills.

"Yeah, what do we need to do…I think Beth's ready, she's talking in her sleep".

"Right, you are not going to like my answer one bit." he brought the glass to me, single malt with a dash of A+.

"What do you mean?" I drank, anticipating the need for hard liquor.

"The terms of a sanctioned turning have stipulations" he stopped to swig half the glass.

"Couldn't be any worse than a 1950's Catholic wedding" I remarked.

"Glad to hear you're open minded, Mick" Josef loves to make me pull things out of him….

"Josef, come on, tell me….how bad is it?"

"Have you seen many young Vamps, Mick? Look around – we keep the population to a manageable number with the protocol." Josef slugged down the rest of his drink and headed for another… a tell on his "nervous" factor with this discussion.

Sting -Set Them Free

http:/ www. /watch?v=LSGl3d4KOMk&ob=av3e

_**If you need somebody, call my name. If you want someone, you can do the same**_

_**If you want to keep something precious you got to lock it up and throw away the key**_

_**If you want to hold onto your possession don't even think about me….**_

Great, there is a Zero Population movement within Vampires I thought as my spirits dropped.

"First, you petition. Then you and your candidate complete the probationary period, which depends on the circumstances." I had zoned out at petition, then snapped back to attention when he stopped talking.

"I lost you after candidate…what probationary period?"

"It depends on the human" Josef sniffed.

"Beth's married to me, doesn't that speak for something?" I threw my hands up in the air….this sounded like as much fun as a trip to the DMV.

"It's a solid yes with a marriage, live in's harder to get approved. Good thing you guys tied the knot". Josef sat down with a fresh drink and bobbed in the chair, still nervous looking.

"So should I even ask why I got turned without notice?" I scratched my head; wincing at the answer…it always had something to do with the mighty House of DuVall.

"Please, you know the answer….starts with a C, ends with an E and has an eon of drama connected to her. You were a DuVall turn; they pull out all the stops to be their own vampires. The only people aggravated by your hasty turn were the brothers….."

"So, about the probationary period, what are we looking at 3-6?" I made some mental notes about travel, etc.

"More like 6-9" he nodded.

"I guess 6-9 days isn't hard top deal with" I nodded, about to get up and go.

"Mick, its 6-9 months of separation, they need to be sure they want this…it's not something that can be undone. This isn't a nose job." He was very quiet and I fell back into the chair. 6-9 months of separation? "You'd have to live apart, generally no private time – just to be sure there isn't and use of "allure" to convince the human. There has to be complete freedom of choice" he hung his head into his glass.

_**If you love somebody, if you love somebody, if you love somebody if you love somebody set them free**_

_**Set them free, Set them free, set them free, Set them free…**_

"You could have told me this when you told me everything else….I know I can't live without her for that length of time. Josef, this is pure politics, it's just not reasonable or fair" I was nearly shrieking at him. I felt such a burning ache in the pit of my gut. "Please tell me it's a joke…you can't be serious"

"Mick, let's get your petition filed, then we'll worry about the time, OK?"

Josef stepped over to the desk and logged into what looked like a website for a lightning rod company, clicking into a few options he was finally at the site for the North American Vampires Delegation. He filed the petition and saved a copy to his desktop, then turned to me.

"Good news, they had a cancellation and will hear your petition tomorrow night. Here's the address, you and Beth need to be there at 7:45pm"

Josef slid a piece of paper across the desk to me. "Be ready for anything, and tell her not to dress in all black…that really pisses them off".

"Aren't you going to be with us?" I was frustrated he was taking me this far and dropping us at their doorstep. "I can't do this alone!" Eyes wide I begged Josef.

"Mick, who are you going to count on when you turn Beth?"

My mind went blank. Is this what parents experienced when they heard they were pregnant for the first time? I had 6-9 months to prepare to be a Sire.

"Don't waffle now, Mick. Follow your gut, it's all instinct and love. Once she begins to feeds off you it will all be clear. The tight bond you have now will increase a thousand fold." I could see the emotion emerge as Josef spoke of the change in the Sire….it left me with questions about his experiences.

"So, is that how it was for you? " I turned down my emotions a few notches…I wanted him to open back up.

"Watching you has been a blast, better than HBO" he was grinning now…his mind off the question I posed.

"No, I meant how was it when you sired?" I spoke a bit louder. Those who can DO, those who can't consult…..

"I don't want to color your experience" he demurred, pushing a gentle hand up as if to "pass" "Now go ahead and break the news to Blondie, her next birthday she celebrates may be her last"

I didn't move I sat with arms folded, "Beth isn't expecting me until Midnight. I've got time; I want to know more, Josef".

Josef blanched at the statement and shook his head, "I'm not the siring type".

"400 years and NO turns?" I pushed again.

"You make me sound so old" he shook his head, drinking in slow sips, staring at me, eyes tightening.

"Cut the crap, Josef. Tell me about your last Fledgling".

"I haven't sired since the inception of the Protocol, I have commitment issues" he shrugged his shoulders, "Oh, for the days when you turned them, taught them to hunt and socialize then went on your merry way".

He left his chair, placed his glass on the table and walked behind me. He bent and placed his hands on my shoulders, whispering into my ear

"Mick, you have what it takes, you're a by the book kind of guy. Go home to your wife and make plans for the future".

_**If it's a mirror you want, just look into my eyes, or a whipping boy, someone to despise**_

_**or a prisoner in the dark tied up in chains you just can't see**_

_**Or a beast in a gilded cage that's all some people ever want to be**_

I let myself into a silent loft. It wasn't until I was up the stairs that I caught a whiff of Beth's cachet. She was on the roof with the faerie lights twinkling in the potted trees. The open bottle of wine sat untouched. She saw me and rushed me with a kiss, "Hey, Babe, I just wanted to stay in tonight, OK?" I surrendered to her embrace right there.

I wanted to find out about the dreams…so I started fishing…. "how was your dream this morning?"

"My dream, what do you mean?" she probably didn't even remember it.

"You talked in your sleep, said something like, When, Mick, When?"

Beth sat back and stared into the night, as if viewing a movie in her head, "My dream, ah, I was downstairs and we were talking about new furniture and you had been putting me off"

"Furniture?" crap, maybe I had misread her…does she want to wait longer to make her choice? "Are you kidding me? If you want new furniture all you had to do was ask!" she moved toward me, hips undulating under the gauzy peasant dress, she knew how to tempt me. She grabbed as my waistband with both hands and looked up at me.

"Actually, it was about appliances" she smiled.

"I know these have been in the loft, they're a few years old, but I've only started to use them…." She put her fingers over my lips.

"I want a new freezer" she said as she pulled me to her hips.

Dumb, thick, oblivious, dense…line up all the words that could have my photo next to them. "You want a freezer? I have an ice machine and…" and she shook her head to stop me.

"Mick, I want a freezer, a doublewide. With a lid that opens when you sit up. I don't want to hit my head when I sit up suddenly. Don't tell me you haven't done it!"

"And we need a doublewide….." wanted to seal this moment in my mind…..was this her way of telling me it's time, she wants to join me? I was about to burst as she stood shaking her head in mock disgust at my dense male brain. She turned on her heel for the phone inside the loft.

"Let me call Josef, I'll bet he'd share a freezer with me…." She was giggling as I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to me

"Like hell you will," I purred as I pulled her tight to my chest, the rumble vibrating through both of us, "If he sired you I'd never hear the end of it." I wanted to taste her, all of her.

"You've heard of the tremendous sexual chemistry between sire and fledgling, do you want to have him taunt me constantly?" The night was suddenly too electric for me, my vampire began to rise from my depths and holding Beth to my chest soothed me to concentrate. I swept her up and flew to the bedroom. We wrestled off clothes, our needs flushing all reason from our minds.

I pressed Beth back to the bed, the covers cast aside with our clothes. I saw the glow of her body in the half moonlight and she grinned at my profile in the darkness, pulling at my erection to draw me closer to her…

_**If you love somebody, If you love somebody, If you love somebody,**_

_**If you love somebody go on set them free**_

_**Set them free, Set them free, set them free, Set them free…**_

**Part 6 Finale Part B**

Same Night

Mick's POV:

The man in me wanted to take her fast.

The vampire wanted me to surrender to her body's worship as only a carnal beast would appreciate, slowly, skillfully and precisely. My eyes closed and when they reopened I was seeing Beth through studied and ready eyes. I felt the electricity flow between us, felt her heat emanate from her entire body, and heard her heart singing to me.

Beth continued to smile widely as she reached for me, wrapping her legs around me, pulling my length to tease her cleft. I came close enough to kiss and lick, and held back from penetrating her. I want time to draw all this out. Our lips met and melted together as our tongues danced. She broke the connection to breathe as she shuddered my name.

"Yes, Beth, tell me what you want…" I whispered.

"I want your lips on me, you know" she shyly asked casting her eyes down between us. I reached down between her legs and touched her.

"You mean, here? And she nodded as I withdrew my hand to taste her, returning to draw gentle fingertips over the folds of soft skin already damp and creamy. "You want my lips there too?" I ran my thumb over her clit and she moaned as it hardened in my hand, "You have to promise to let yourself go…" all I wanted was to feel her buck and arch as I held her with my lips. I drew my wet fingers over her nipples as I moved to my personal heaven. She was soft and hot and waiting for my bite.

After everything I couldn't bear to tell her about the delay it would take OR the agonizing separation period. I'll wait until she wakes up….

_**You can't control an independent heart, you can't tear the one you love apart**_

_**Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live we can't live here and be happy with less**_

_**So many riches, so many souls, everything we see we want to possess**_

The next afternoon, 4'ish

Mick's POV:

"I need you to come with me this evening….." I was nonchalant as I went through the electric and phone bills on the computer.

"Where to?" She was flipping through a travel magazine.

"We have an appointment about, ah, what we talked about last night" I was finding it hard to talk about the petition and turning process.

"We have an appointment to talk about sex?" She was either really fixated on our activities or pulling my leg.

"The freezer….and all that it entails" I looked up to make eye contact…..

"Oooh… where, what do we have to do?" That got her attention. I had to explain there were guidelines and then I added what Josef said about not wearing all black…..a bit of a cliché. She accommodated me by dressing brightly and beautifully, as she always did. We spent the rest of the late afternoon talking about her questions and details I hadn't thought about. I silently lamented about separating for 6 to 9 months…I couldn't believe they'd do that to us.

7:30 outside Vulcan Lightening Rod Works.

What a façade for the governing body of our population. We sat in the Benz, Beth applying lipstick, me flipping my hand thru my hair, checking my teeth in the review mirror. I flashed a smile to Beth.

"You nervous?" She asked

"Naw, are you?" I grinned, wiping my mouth once more from an earlier kiss. She looked at me and shook her head with that private grin.

"Vampires….

"Make bad liars" we both said together.

The lobby held a security station with two vamps in navy blazers and black slacks. With the white shirts and black ties they almost looked like private school boys, except they were each about 200 years old and strong as hell. I handed the card Josef had given me and they nodded for us to follow the one with the name badge "Jake" to the elevator.

We rode silently up to the 15th floor, who would have thought you could have 15 floors of lightning rod business? The doors opened to a conference room where the table sat three on one side and two on our side. We took our seats at Jake's hand gesture and waited. We grinned back and forth and Beth slipped her hand into mine. Something told me this wasn't like my Eagle Scout Board of Review with fatherly Scout Masters.

The door opened and three old souls entered the room, two men and a woman each appearing to be in their mid-thirties-forties. Their decay belied their "youth"; perhaps they ranged from 300-500 years old. I stood immediately until they approached the table and introduced themselves.

"Good, evening Mr. and Mrs. St John. My name is Jack Lafitte and I will be your head Prefect at this hearing, my fellow members are Benjamin Butler* and Charlotte Badger* we'll be asking some basic questions as well as answering your questions. Are we ready to begin?" We all nodded and took our seats.

Jack began, "We understand you would like to attempt a sanctioned turn" he folded his hands atop a stack of papers and looked us square in the eye. We nodded even though we blanched at the word "attempt".

"Mr. St John, you understand the managed population is the result of a careful process. The benefits of being what we are would cause us to be overrun if everyone who thought it was cool got approval. Primarily we need to know you accept the terms of the attempt. That you are fully responsible for your Fledgling" I nodded to him vigorously.

"And you, Mrs. St John understand there are situations where turnings do not result in the desired state. The attempt can result in certain death or coma." He watched for Beth's expressions responding to the side effects.

"Pardon, me?" she swallowed perceptibly to us.

"The attempt can leave the prospect in a coma, between the two states of coma and undead or totally exsanguinated. You need to make an informed decision as to whether you are ready for these possibilities, Mrs. St John."

_**If you need somebody, call my name. If you want someone, you can do, you can do, and you can do the same**_

_**If you want to keep something precious you got to lock it up and throw away the key**_

_**If you want to hold onto your possession don't even think about me**_

"Mr. St John, your petition states you are from the House of DuVall and that relationship has been released. We show no record of your sanctioned turn and we understand your wife would be your first turn. Have you made any steps toward securing a location for the process? Have you contrived an exit plan for your wife?" The questions were barreling out at me, surely to disorient me, perhaps to dissuade me from attempting this alone.

"Beth and I haven't taken any of these steps, when we learned about the process we wanted to know what the recommendations were". I took the blame for those questions.

"Are you aware of the probationary time?" Jack asked, fingering the papers he held before him.

"Yes, Josef Kostan made me aware of it. We are both very interested in knowing if this can be shortened. This isn't a spur of the moment decision. Beth has married me, accepted my nature and wants to join me. I was turned…" he cut me off

"Mr. St John, You were turned in 1952; your official birth certificate shows your original date of birth as November, 1923. Mrs. St John is currently 27. You both have time before her age overtakes your age. You have eternity together once this is accomplished. Are you evading something, Mrs. St John?" The Prefect eyed Beth as she sat, ankles crossed and hands in her lap.

Beth wet her lips nervously and opened her eyes wide, "I was being stalked by my ex-fiancé. He confronted us in my home. He didn't know what Mick is, yet he knew something was up. He brought copies of Mick's military records, all the paperwork that could expose him. I was determined that he not hurt Mick. I've loved Mick from the moment I met him. I killed Anthony while he verbally sparred with Mick. I saw the opportunity and I took it. Since then I have nightmares about him returning, when I know the Cleaners took care of everything. I understand Vampires don't dream, and I want to stop dreaming and start living if you beg the expression." Her steely resolve stuck on her face when she stopped speaking. The three of them exchanged looks and Jack asked they be excused.

"Do you think I screwed the pooch on that admission?" Beth asked as she sat back in the chair, throwing her head on the back of the seat about to cry.

"Beth, if this shows them anything it shows them you have the resolve to keep our secrets, move rapidly and decisively." I reached out to smooth her hair behind her ear and run the back of my hand gently over her jaw line. We sat for about 25 minutes, thinking they were going to show us the door. When the door opened we jumped to our feet. They came to the table and we all sat down.

"Mr. St John, we've reviewed the Cleaner Report, spoken with Mr. Kostan as well as reviewed the details of your turning" Jack looked from left to right and the taller man, Benjamin Butler, shuffled a few more papers and spoke up.

"Providing you can secure your location and get Mrs. St John's exit strategy submitted we would be open to your attempting the turn within 48 hours of the submitted forms. Charlotte, the Registrar has a few forms and once we witness them your future together can begin. Would you need any ideas for your destination? "He was a jovial guy for looking so initially immovable.

Charlotte stood and pushed papers across the table to us, post it's marked where they wanted our signatures or initials, "Would you like some time to discuss this? We have a study you could use for the next hour if you need it."

The two of us were speechless. All of a sudden we couldn't think or stand to walk, Beth reached her hand out to me and once we connected I stood and swept her into my arms. We followed Charlotte into a library area filled with travel resources.

"Where do you want to do this?" I asked Beth as she stood there running her fingers over the world map that covered an entire wall.

"I have no idea. Do I have to die to the world? Can we say we're taking a trip, you know a long trip, come back in a few months? Would I be alright to see my family? Can I have it all?" She wanted as much as possible from her world.

"What are you going to tell them when we don't have children? What will you tell them when you don't age? Beth….it's not possible to have it all. I realize I'm asking you to choose your parents or me. I don't make these mandates….it's all part of the equation. It's for our safety, your safety that you leave your world." She clutched to me and her tears flowed as she bit her lip.

"It is your decision or the Delegation's?" she was defensive, shoulders near heaving with the tears.

"It's the way of the lifestyle. If you aren't ready we can destroy the paperwork until you are ready. Your parents are still young enough they could live another 30 years, by that time you'd be almost 60 and I'll still be the way I am" I couldn't build the world around my heart alone….I needed her to buy into "us" and the concept of leaving the human world for the most part. I had to stop talking…let her think, while I turned my head away from hers in our embrace.

"I need you, Mick, we're married. I left my family to join you…..we are our own family now. We'll be complete in our world when I'm turned. This is what we came to do. Mick, let's figure out where we're going. I want to know next weekend is my last weekend, you know, as a human." She pressed the tears away with her fingers and stood tall, shoulders square.

_**If you love somebody, if you love somebody, if you love somebody If you love somebody set them free**_

_**Set them free, Set them free, set them free, Set them free…**_

_**Set them free, Set them free, Free, free, set them free…**_

Just a little mood music to get started….

Elvis Presley - A little less conversation

http: / www. /watch?v=ZlJMk4VKYTE

_**A little less conversation, a little more action please, All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me**_

_**A little more bite and a little less bark, A little less fight and a little more spark**_

_**Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me, Satisfy me baby**_

_**Baby close your eyes and listen to the music Drifting through a summer breeze**_

_**It's a groovy night and I can show you how to use it Come along with me and put your mind at ease**_

_**A little less conversation, a little more action please All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me**_

_**A little more bite and a little less bark A little less fight and a little more spark**_

_**Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me, Satisfy me baby**_

_**Come on baby I'm tired of talking Grab your coat and let's start walking**_

_**Come on, come on, Come on, come on, Come on, come on**_

_**Don't procrastinate, don't articulate Girl it's getting late, you just sit and wait around**_

_**A little less conversation, a little more action please**_

_**All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me A little more bite and a little less bark**_

_**A little less fight and a little more spark Close your mouth and open up your heart and baby satisfy me, Satisfy me baby**_

**Part C, The Turn.**

3rd evening after the meeting

Mick's POV:

I waiting for the call, it rang in earlier this evening. Jack gave us the "green light". Once we knew, Beth made some phone calls to set the scenario. Since we hadn't "honeymooned" it was plausible that we could pack her car up and head for parts unknown…just rambling until we decided to return. She's a great performer, once she sets her mind to it.

"Dad, hey…yeah it was good to see you too…Dad…. Mick and I are going to take off for a few weeks, packing up the car and heading out. I just wanted to let you know we'd be on the road- you know maybe away from Cell phone towers, yah know? Is Mom there?"

"Heh, Mom, yeah about that wedding. Mick and I went to Vegas….couldn't wait … Right after we left home we met friends of Mick's and we got married at the Venetian …Yeah Mom, it was what I wanted …..… .look I know I deprived you of a big wedding….. I'm sorry… Mom, please understand, I am 27 and I have had a lifetime of pleasing people. … Mom…Think of the money I saved you - yeah, you and Daddy deserve to get away. Take the money and do something for yourselves. ….. . . . . . . . . Mom, I am happier than I have ever been. . . . . . . . .Yes, Mick treats me like a queen, I love him so much."

And I thought after the news they'd be getting in a few days….. (Our deaths, etc.)…..they would want to get away.

"Mom, I'm sending a book of photos from the ceremony, it's going out today. …. . . . . . Mom, tell Dad I love him, I love you too…. . . . . . . . .Yes I'll tell your new son you love him for making me happy".

Beth hung up the phone and gave me that raised eyebrow, bit lip look. She had set the stage for our swan song.

We had thought of getting away…far away…and I wasn't comfortable taking all this into my control. I wanted resources behind me for Beth's sake. It took a little cajoling then Josef caved when I reminded him that Beth has a soft spot in her heart for him.

The Cleaners removed Beth's car, packed it with a couple's belongings and did that voodoo that they do so well. Somewhere up the coast there was an accident with an incinerated vehicle. The "ashes" were sent to Don and Alice Turner, with the explanation that the couple "rests in peace together". We were past the point of no return.

Friends…. Nothing like the unlimited support of a close friend, a brother who can give when you need it. Josef and I sat for a few moments, I felt like a virgin Groom with his Dad. He had made sure I was well fed, brought in three of his best O+, swore to me they'd be the best to get me through the turning…..

"You're going to need all of your faculties, Mick…listen to everything and at the same time….don't freak out if you hear a little fear from her. Remember, she's dying until you bring her around?" he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and clutched for a second. "Anything else you need? We're just a buzzer away, OK?"

Josef walked me to the door way and I watched as Beth lay by the pool for the last time. By now her skin had a golden glow, the tan marks from wearing the red bikini all afternoon. This morning she had asked me how long her tan would hold….I had told her she'd have an eternity of spray tan ahead of her and she laughed, still choosing the pool as her last outside activity for a long time.

I had to smile at her last meal, the Filet Mignon with garlic smashed potatoes. "Don't you think it's ironic? I am eating a meal full of garlic before I turn into the thing that Garlic is supposed to repel?" She giggled as she bit into the rare 12 oz. filet, blood flowing on the plate. I watched her demolish the crisp broccoli, the cheesy garlic bread and the praline cheesecake….two pieces of praline cheesecake. My girl was making a day to remember.

So now, the sun was beginning to wane and my appearance at the heavily filtered glass door told her it was time. She waved and picked up her towel and returned to me. "Are we doing this thing?" she grinned. And I nodded, taking her hand we left for the east wing.

We had talked about doing this - spur of the moment …. Beth had suggested that I choose the time when I thought it was right for her and I refused. I wanted both of us to know what was happening. So we began where so many of our soulful journeys began, in the shower.

I savored the last scents of my human Beth. I listened to her vital heart beat, a bit rushed from anticipation. She stood as I released the ties on her suit, the deep red spandex falling to the floor. The white flesh missed by the sun called me….bright pink nipples cresting her breasts, the warren of deep blond curls at center of her thighs.

We tumbled with each other toward the double shower and I whispered….."Last chance for steam….." referring to the proclivity for icy vamp showers and she giggled, "Just think about how much we'll save on a water heater". We stood under the rain shower head, fully bathed in slow drops as in a field. I began to touch her slowly, for her to register her last human "feelings". We touched as we had the first time, that tentative touch. Tonight was it from anticipation or apprehension?

We were in familiar territory now, skin to skin with water barely flowing between us. The sea sponge lathered with ginger soaps bubbled as I slid it over her shoulders cooling the sun's final kiss.

Beth wrapped her arms around my neck, murmuring my name, whispering hot breathy "I love you's", casting me into a heated fury to press harder against her.

I slid my foot between hers then nudged her knee with mine; this generally led to my hasty penetration and her seductively riding me out to heaven. Tonight she wrapped a leg around my hip and I hesitated to take entry. It was too soon….We held each other rocking gently, enjoying the water flowing between us while our ardor simmered. I grabbed the second shower head and brought it closer over her body, washing away any soap, I played at her thighs and whispered how much I wanted her….how much I needed her with me…forever. She was wordless, eyes wide opened and provocative in her ripeness. When we were both rinsed I grabbed her fluffy robe and bundled her, delivering her to the bed with vamp speed.

I lay her down and dried myself off, casting the towel to the side. I ached to be within her, as I stretched along her left side. The ivory sheets glowed in the moonlight against the burgundy walls and carpet. Her tanned body stood out as much as my pale flesh blended with the bed. We rolled toward each other and began the travels to the end of her mortality.

I watched the network of veins as they pulsed life through her…knowing within hours I would still them to revive her. I would see the glow dim and it caused me to stop…I held her face in my hands and asked her again, "Are you ready for all of this?".

Beth traced my jaw and nodded, she added a kiss and a "forever, Mick, forever" before we gripped tighter and more voraciously. Beth's hands grabbed my erection toward her, anxious in her appetite to ride me deep and slow. I deferred to kiss her, following from her shoulders to her breasts, her belly and navel finishing where I could bury my nose between her legs. I sought the hollow of her thigh where her vein ran hottest.

My thumb dashed lightly across her as she sung her songs of enticement…the sighs and quiet coo's, those breaths of differing pitches that guided me in pleasuring her. I was torn between licking at her honeyed center or taking a nip from her thigh. I licked and kissed, driving her to arch into my mouth, her legs wrapped around my shoulders and when I knew she was near coming I began gentle strokes with my fingers, drawing them lightly over the folds of creamy flesh. While she began to take flight I bit that tender thigh flesh, drawing just enough blood to taste her orgasm, her excitement, her desire for me…and it begged me to burrow deep within her.

While she quivered I lapped at the tiny bites and moved decisively between her legs. I stood and drew her to the end of the bed, and then holding her close I pushed into her trembling flesh to stroke her deeply and slowly.

She felt me pause and grinned wide at me, nodding and whispering, "Mick, fuck me harder…I want you deep and hard".

With her desires known, I gathered her up and spun around to sit on the chair next to the bed. She won control being on top and she began to ride me deeply, I pumped to meet her, our ebb and flow driving her nearly out of breath while I soldiered thru fucking for the both of us. I watched her head fall back as she moaned; I loved how her back felt in my hands, her small waist strong, tight.

"Let me hear you…I want to hear you again…do you want more? More like this?" as I slowed the stroke and she grinned and dove into my shoulder and just when I thought she'd come again she bit me…one of those little human bites and she drew back grinning and licking her lips.

That invitation to kiss was too much; I had to taste her lips again. I began to feel the flesh within her strangle me and that familiar exhilaration began to grab at my balls. I stroked the hair away from her throat and let her watch me vamp out. "YESSSss" was her answer as I drew blood and swallowed. The strumming inside her drank me dry as I suckled from her throat. We clutched each other as we came . . . . .

Draw yourself into their world…please listen

Grave Digger- No Quarter (Led Zeppelin Cover)

http:/ www. Yout ube .com/watch?v=gU34HAhk3b0

_**Close the doors put out the light; you know they won't be home tonight**_

I felt the quake like no other time….drawing more than just a few sips of her blood escalated my climax….in turn increasing her throttling around my pulsing flesh. The sensations were spiraling, transforming my every nerve. I tasted her with more clarity at each mouthful. My mouth listened to her blood as it sang down my throat. I tasted her love, her acceptance and her anticipation of meeting again on the other side.

Thinking I was near I slowed my pace, never releasing my bite. This is where my fear poised to take hold, what if I took too much? Went too far? The Prefect's words shattered my calm….I harkened for the shallowest of beats and lay Beth on the bed, crawling beside her I bit my wrist and I felt her warmth within me.

I hadn't felt so alive since my wedding night in 1952 and now it was time to give it back. My bitten wrist flowed freely with all that fresh blood within me. I kissed Beth's dying lips, leaving them open for my first few drops to slide down her throat.

_**The snow falls hard and don't you know the winds of Thor are blowing cold**_

_**They're wearing steel that's bright and true they carry news that must get through**_

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, the drops lengthened to stream from me. I squeezed my arms and drew it closer to her, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen I pressed my wrist to her lips, hoping for her response.

Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, I scooped her up to cradle her in my arm….hoping my flesh against hers would excite her to wake.

Twenty-one, twenty-two…"Beth" I whispered in her ear and she shuddered.

Was it a death rattle? Had I bit too long? As a tear ran down my cheek I felt a flutter of lips at my wrist, the flick of her tongue. The rattle turned into her stretching and blindly reaching both hands to me. Her left hand found my wrist and her right fingers laced within mine, keeping me tight to her mouth.

"Beth, Oh, Beth, come back to me, come on, Babe" I implored as she suckled, stronger with each mouthful. All of the flush of warmth I felt from draining her was reversing as our blood flowed back to her. I listened as her heart sat still and her lashes fluttered. Her grip released and her tongue lapped at our blood on her lips. Her smile revealed baby fangs, her canines sharper yet not lengthened to what they would be. I pulled her close and we kissed for the first time as vampires.

_**They choose the path where no-one goes, They hold no quarter, They hold no quarter. Oh...**_

She rolled over me, taking my hands in hers and stretched atop me. Our bodies slid over each other, slick with come and sweat and blood in sensuous urgency. Beth's lips worked mine, our tongues came out to play and her first word was, "Mick".

We bantered love words back and forth to each other until she released her grip and sat astride my hips, declaring, "I am so hungry", arms up around her head, running her hands through her hair, feeling teach hair for the first time. I held out my arms and sat up to, moving her to my lap and offered my neck.

She never blinked; she scented me, turned and landed a clean bite. I lurched at her force….feeling her small fangs lengthen with her enthusiasm as she drew our blood back into her. She drew so long I was getting light headed and then she released me and we fell back to bed. I swear, I think I heard a quiet burp, one of those long rolling burps. Beth giggled and fluttered her eyelashes and whispered, "Excuse me"

So…what's the Emily Post guideline on a Vampire's first feeding? Is a burp a sign of satisfaction?

I lay there while she stretched; she was feeling her body move over the sheets for the first time. Rolling right and left, she blinked her eyes and peered out into the night…..her tongue moved over her teeth, seeking her new additions, wanting to feel them for herself. She seemed restless until she desired to move off the bed; with a bound she nearly hit the wall 10 feet away. She caught herself at the wall of mirrors and viewed her vampire self for the first time.

_**Walking side by side with death the devil mocks their every step**_

_**The snow drives back the foot that's slow, the dogs of doom are howling more**_

_**They carry news that must get through to build a dream for me and you**_

_**They choose the path that no one goes**_

"Oh, my god, Mick…how do you do this? How can you deal with it all?" she ran the flat of her palms over her flesh, rubbing upward to feel the velvet flesh under her breasts and the puckered nipples. She stroked her nipples between her fingers and threw back her head in the ecstasy vampires understood. I leapt behind her, pressing against her, placing my hands on her hips, peering over her shoulder into the mirror….seeing the both of us strong and fully realized for eternity.

_**They hold no quarter,**_

_**They ask no quarter,**_

_**They hold no quarter,**_

_**They ask no quarter...**_

_**They think about no quarter...**_

_**With no quarter . . . . . quarter.**_

_**Oh No...**_

**Continued in the next series…..Night Moves**


End file.
